AIBU to expect to get PPE that fits women

[booboo57]

Just that really. Started work 40 years ago and it was tricky then. Recently had a new starter same problems trying to get overall sized for her. I'm so angry 40 years and we've not moved forward. I feel like I need to do something but what. Share our stories, get angry, change the world!

Hi, PPE in England for the female of the species is terrible. I worked in Australia for 5yrs and they are so much better at it! I came back to the UK and work in the rail industry so full orange PPE and safety boots, etc and it's all baggy, ill fitting 'wear a mens small and it'll be alright love' err... Well I look like a sack of spuds 'mate'. Boots make me look like I have clown feet and don't fit correctly.
I give up and don't get me started on safety specs...

Agree! I do have ladies safety boots, but my hi vis is frankly two squares of material sewn together with gaps left for my arms. My gloves are at least an inch longer than my fingers, and my specs are too wide for my face and don’t go over my own seeing glasses.

Lucky for me I only wear it infrequently, when I’m out on site, but I feel like it looks so unprofessional.

Me too! Hardly safely equipment if it's too baggy or uncomfortable footwear. Drives me nuts. Railway PPE here too! I'd rather not get dragged under a train from my 'PPE' flapping around.

...and only one (ugly) kind of safety shoes available in size 3 :(

Interested they do it better in Australia. Also that you can get female sized boots. I was told "women's and men's are the same". Maybe we need to get a database of suppliers that do stuff that fits. Just someone needs to speak up about this.

YANBU. Things are getting better but it's so slow. 20 years ago I got my chainsaw ticket and had to have a huge arguement with the trajner as he'd provided me with size 10 chainsaw boots and trousers to fit a 6' bloke (I have size 6 feet and am 5'4").

Lab coats must cover you lap when seated. Well make them with space for a lady bottom then. Constantly tight at hips and huge on top.

Yanbu. I did a couple of ship visits in my last job and always gave my size and shoe size in advance. The boiler suits and capped boots were always huge. Clearly it's unsafe wearing shoes 2 sizes too big (I'm a 4 and the smallest they could get were a 6) so it defeats the purpose surely! They were slipping off my feet while I was up and down stairs, on the helipad and in lifeboats etc

@booboo57 I’m in Ireland- if we can get women’s safety boots you defo can. They are gross- like manage your expectations but they are ladies sizes

The clip on my vest for my body worn camera is positioned at the top of my chest which is ample. My camera points up in the air. My vest is not designed for women so my breasts are squished all the time

This is so true - hi-vis trousers large enough for female hips, but not design for someone 7feet tall don’t seem to exist! Wearing my site gear makes me feel very short and fat :(

Yes! I’m a size 9 foot, so safety boots aren’t a problem, but as a curvy, booby size 14/16 trousers never fit properly (our ladies trousers are men’s trousers with the waist size translated into a dress size with no actual lady shaped bum/hips) and tops are huge!

Worth writing to IOSH and the British Safety Council to lobby a change, or an awareness at least of brands which suit the female shape? PPE, by law, must fit the person it's intended for, not a one size fits all. The safety industry is far behind in women to men ratios, which doesn't help....

I can’t help but laugh (at myself mostly) sorry!!

I’m 5ft 2. My high viz coat hem touches the tops of my high viz wellies. Which is all they can get me in a 3 unless I buy my own. And my sleeves are 6 inches too long. It’s an amazing ‘look’ coupled with a hard hat and goggles. I’m living the dream.

My corporate fleece has the same sleeve problem. And as for ‘unisex’ polo shirts and hoodies (which are thankfully optional) well that’s entertaining trying to fit my g cups in them.

I hear you!

Although I am eternally thankful for the DM Rosa boots - which come in my tiny size 3.

YABU. Everyone knows these jobs require machinery and tools which can only be operated by the penis

It's ridiculous. Same in universities even. Shocking

Don't hold your breath. An old joke regarding male PPE back in the 70s was that it came in two sizes. "Too Big" and "Way Too Big".

I'm an average woman with smallish appendages. I'm a size 5 safety shoe (4 in toe capped wellies for some reason) a size 100 boiler suit, and an XS nitrile glove. I worked with a tiny woman who wore a size 3 shoe and a size 88 boiler suit, no problem. Industry was 90% women though.

I think it may depend on who is ordering and what the supplier is used to.

I also managed to get a ladies cut lab coat and child sized safety specs (I wear the same size crash hat as my 2 year old, my head is actually a pea) for my new job.

But yeah, rocking up to a different unit to a row if size 8 wellies and size 124 boiler suits when the blokes had stocked up used to piss me right off, so I get you.

I look like I'm playing dress up on site with flapping arms rolled up on giant coats. I do feel it impacts my professional image.

I had input into our footwear provision and managed to get a ladies safety trainer and boot in the PPE list, starting at a 3 and not so hideously ugly that female colleagues leave, rather than wear them - these are the ones.

I've given up on finding a decent women's smart toecap shoe. They're all disgusting.

Next task will be gloves.
I can't get too overexcited about hi-vis as it's over the standard issue 'unisex' fleece anyway .

We used to have lab coats cut for male and female. They were great. All of them were recently replaced for flame retardant ones. Great in theory but they changed to a unisex style. Which means cut straight up and down. Cut for men. I have the choice of a baggy top and long sleeves with space for my hips or fitting on top and the poppers opening whenever I sit down. I've gone for the long sleeves and I'm just glad they have poppers to pin them shut around my wrists otherwise I'd be knocking everything flying off the bench.

Where I work most of the gentleman are at least an xxl to a 5xl. Great the ppe fits them fine.

I look like a flipping clown - they won’t order any smaller sizes as they cater for the masses apparently

Anyway I do have a lovely pair of ladies safety boot and trainers (with a pink bit cause you know all ladies want pink )

Rest of it is a botch job! They did have a few companies who do ladies ppe come around but in the end said it was too expensive!

You are NOT being unreasonable, i dropped a safety glove on site & can I just walk into a building store to get a new set - NO. I have to specialist bloody order them. My hi-vis is ridiculous - stupidly oversized. Boots have got better, as I wear thick socks so can go a size bigger. Basically I have to specially order, hope it fits & hope it arrives.

The gloves do my head though, I need specialist gloves that are safe - and sensitive enough that I can carry out complex cabling ..... 😂😂 in my tiny hand size.

If I bring female visitors onto site, the visitor PPE is a nightmare....

Ladies, the Dragons Den gauntlet is down- I can't sew! I have walked out of steeltoe/sole wellies, had boiler suit sleeve overhang rolled up to such an extent that I couldn't put a coat on top, my high viz is so bulky I can't see over the surplus to do anything

It’s rubbish, isn’t it? I am short and fat and to get kit that fits my bust I always end end up with an outfit that is made for a much taller person. I feel like I’m a horrible fluorescent yellow blob when I’m wearing full gear.

This is how Australia does PPE for women: www.shewear.com.au