NIOSH Protective Clothing Challenge

Original article published by herox

Help us find new ways to provide better-fitting protective clothing for the full spectrum of U.S. workers. Let’s leave no body behind!

Challenge Overview

U.S. workers require protective clothing that fits properly to perform their jobs safely. Protective clothing that fits poorly can compromise safety and performance of people as they work, resulting in injuries and lost-time to those trying to do their jobs and risks to those around them. Unfortunately, for many workers, finding properly fitting protective clothing is harder than it should be.

Traditional sizing approaches do not accommodate the shapes and sizes of all workers, and current designs and knowledge management materials (e.g., training) for protective clothing may not support differences that arise from important religious or cultural practices. Typical procurement approaches financially reward large-quantity purchases, which can negatively impact the availability of some protective clothing by creating a disincentive for manufacturers to make and distributors to carry lower-volume products. Further, access to protective clothing that meets the needs of all workers when and where that clothing is needed (i.e., the point of use) can be disrupted by a myriad of logistics challenges within the work environment.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks your help in generating innovative solutions to address the above issues. These solutions will help to ensure that protective clothing designs and supporting guidance allow for safe use by all workers with these designs being equitably available in the marketplace and at the point of use. Solutions should consider the broad spectrum of U.S. workers in relation to factors that may influence fit such as body size and shape, gender, race, ethnicity, religious or cultural practices, or specific work tasks.

The “NIOSH Protective Clothing Challenge—Leaving No Body Unprotected” will award a total prize purse of $55,000 to up to five teams whose innovations meet the challenge goals. This challenge focuses specifically on medical gowns, firefighter turnout coats and pants, and protective coveralls for various sectors as outlined in the Guidelines tab.

Help NIOSH leave no body behind when it comes to protective clothing!

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