This week, we’re sponsoring IGEM’s Women in Gas event in London, an opportunity to encourage new networking connections for women in the gas industry. Apprentice Hannah Moseley-Brown will be speaking at the event about her work to improve PPE for women at SGN and below talks about her experience.
On my 29th birthday, I embarked on a new chapter of my career as a Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) Advisor Apprentice at SGN. As a full-time working mum with a six-year-old son, I was eager to contribute to the safety and wellbeing of our workforce. Little did I know that my journey would lead me to uncover a critical issue: the lack of properly fitting personal protective equipment (PPE) for women in our industry.
The unveiling of women’s PPE
When I first joined the company, I was given a mix of unisex and men’s PPE as that was all our stores had stocked. While it absolutely swamped me and part of me felt like I was playing dress up, it was so exciting to be in a job where I could wear a Hi-Vis jacket.
My manager ordered some of the women’s PPE for me and I was really looking forward to trying it all on. I excitedly opened the parcel and put my new trousers on – I’m not joking when I tell you they wouldn’t go past my knees.
I checked the label and the size was what I ordered. So naturally, I had a little cry – an experience I know many women have had with female PPE. But once I got it out of my system, I got on Google to find thousands of links that taught me about the gap in safety women have with their PPE.
Working with our suppliers
It wasn’t something I was going to accept: why should I have PPE that doesn’t fit me just because I’m a woman?
I used my network to speak to our supplier about getting an improved sizing range and got it rolled out into SGN as quickly as we could – it took less than two months from those initial conversations for the proper PPE to be made available to our female colleagues.
Trousers now fit over the curves in women’s bodies, the shoes are narrower and the sleeves on our tops have been adjusted. The range has been such a success, with even some of the men wanting to order it!
In the last few weeks, we’ve also introduced the maternity range of PPE into the business. It has the same protection level of arc resistance (a measurement of how much energy that piece of PPE will absorb) and fire resistance as all other PPE we carry in the business.
This is amazing for inclusivity and keeps women visible on site and in jobs they have worked so hard for. We haven’t got it perfect yet, but this range of PPE for women opens up so many opportunities. I’m constantly looking for new ways for us to innovate and support the business with our PPE range - at the moment, I'm looking into hijabs and I'm also working with our Pride at SGN colleague network to make sure a full range of PPE is available to our transgender colleagues too.
I’m so excited and proud that I’ve been able to support this improvement in the business. This range of PPE means women can walk onto site confidently, looking and feeling like they belong there – because they DO belong there.
