No matter what kind of repairs a shop performs, all technicians should be taking the proper precautions before jumping in to any job. From a technician’s head to their toes – literally – safety gear has a place in every facet of an automotive shop.
“As a technician,” says Courtney Bedoya, marketing manager at Steel Blue, “you never know what’s going to come across your path every day. [Since] you don’t know, it’s hard to plan.”
To anticipate your customers’ needs and plan for them, you’ll need to have a good understanding of your customer base and what their shop deals with regularly. You’ll also need to know specific features and capabilities of protective gear, along with their limitations, to make the proper safety recommendations.
Keep your techs safe
Nick Morello, an independent distributor based out of Totowa, New Jersey, knows first-hand the importance of safety gear. Morello has been in the game for almost 40 years, selling tools and equipment for technicians in his area and even nationwide thanks to the online portion of his business.
When he was 18, his family sold their trucking company. At the time, Morello had dropped out of high school and was looking for a job, so he talked to one of his family’s distributors, and they helped him become a dealer. He spent 18 years with a flag before moving into the world of independent tool distribution.
Throughout his time in the industry, Morello has seen and heard many stories about accidents happening in the workplace. Three of the technicians he visits on his route are blind from work-related accidents, and in each case, some form of protective gear could’ve been the difference between keeping or losing their sight. In fact, Morello understands the importance of protecting yourself so well that he’s been known to give away safety gear to people who can’t afford it.
“I swear to God, I’d give it to him for free,” says Morello, recounting the story of a customer who wasn’t able to purchase a pair of safety glasses. “To me, that’s bad karma that this guy doesn’t [buy them] and then something bad happens. A pair of safety glasses means nothing to me because … I [can] sleep at night knowing a technician now has a pair of safety glasses.”
Still, as Felipe Macias, MLA/PPE sales manager at Encon Safety Products attests, it’s important to explain the cost-benefit analysis of purchasing safety equipment to your customers.
Macias suggests technicians ask, “If I buy this inexpensive, cheap eyewear, how long [am I] going to wear it before buying more?”
Technicians, like most people, want something that won’t break the bank, but if their gear doesn’t fit or wears down after only a few uses, then it won’t matter that they saved a few dollars. Explain to your customers why a safety product will benefit them in the long term and save them money since they won’t need to repurchase the same thing after the cheaper product has broken.
“Whenever you get cheap or buy the bare minimum, you increase your risk,” explains Jon Bullock, manager of strategic marketing at Encon Safety Products. “You also increase the risk of an accident happening.”
Selling safety from head to toe
When asked how to sell these products to technicians, Morello explained that keeping your truck well stocked is key. When a technician can see the product, hold it in their hands, or try it on, then they’re more likely to buy it. If you’re not sure where to start with your customers, you can ask them questions to get a better understanding of what they might need in terms of safety gear.
Austin Dorman, senior manager of product marketing at Milwaukee Tool, suggests asking a somewhat difficult question to get to the root of what safety gear to offer your customers – what are some common injuries that you regularly experience? The answer to this question opens the floor for you to make recommendations to the technicians. If they suffer a lot of hand-related injuries, show them the gloves you have on your truck with higher cut levels. Or maybe they’ve had a couple of technicians call out complaining of back pain, a new work boot with better insole protection might be your suggestion.
Head and eye protection
Eye protection is one of the most important parts of keeping a technician safe from things like chemicals, debris, fine powders, and other harmful things that can float around in a workspace. Headgear, along with eyewear, should be worn as much as possible, especially for the technician who performs under-car work. Not only can a head or eye injury keep your customers from work for days, weeks, or even months, but it can alter the course of their life.
“Depending on the environment [the technician] is working in, head protection could be something that’s either required or they would just benefit from,” explains Dorman. “Whether it be a hard hat or even a bump cap which is just a hat with a hard shell [inside].”
There have been many advancements in safety and protective equipment/gear over the years. Dorman notes that perhaps the biggest advancements have been made in head protection.
“The main focus there is just adding more foam along the sides of the head to really reduce the felt impacts to the head with slips, trips, and falls,” says Dorman.
In recent years, there’s been more pressure to create fog-resistant lenses on safety glasses. He accredits this push to create products that can work through fog as a byproduct of the pandemic. Pre-pandemic, it was an issue felt by some, but as mask mandates were put into place due to the rise of COVID-19 cases across the country and technicians continued to work, it became more of a problem that needed to be dealt with immediately. If you can’t clearly see what you’re doing, then the chance of an accident is high.
When demonstrating eyewear, Macias suggests working with what’s around you. If you want to show the anti-fog feature of a new pair of glasses, try holding the lens up against a hot cup of coffee.
Hand protection
Technicians spend their entire careers working with their hands, so keeping them protected should be an everyday priority. Gloves have come a long way in the automotive industry, evolving to better protect their wearer without disrupting the ability to perform intricate tasks. Though it might seem like a simple part of safety, gloves can fit a variety of needs and situations. From nitrile or latex gloves to protect against chemicals and abrasives to cut-resistant gloves or welding gloves, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to keeping your customers’ hands safe.
“The hand is actually the number one injured part of the body across the country,” says Dorman. “Just breaking down the actual injury statistics.”
For cut-resistant gloves, you’ll need to know what the different levels mean. According to Lift Safety, there are nine levels of cut resistance, and they are as follows:
- Level 1 withstands 200g to 499g of cutting load
- Level 2 withstands 500g to 999g of cutting load
- Level 3 withstands 1,000g to 1,499g of cutting load
- Level 4 withstands 1,500g to 2,199g of cutting load
- Level 5 withstands 2,200g to 2,999g of cutting load
- Level 6 withstands 3,000g to 3,999g of cutting load
- Level 7 withstands 4,000g to 4,999g of cutting load
- Level 8 withstands 5,000g to 5,999g of cutting load
- Level 9 withstands 6,000g or more of cutting load
Work boots
When customers come onto his truck, Morello looks at their shoes, and depending on what he sees, he moves into selling mode. If a technician’s shoes are worn out and look like they might be on their last leg, Morello can direct them to the boots he keeps stocked on his truck and let them try them on and get a feel for the product. Footwear, as Morello puts it, is the low-hanging fruit of safety gear. It’s easy to tell if someone needs a good pair of boots without asking those leading questions.
“A guy walks on your truck, you don’t know if he needs a set of screwdrivers or a set of ratchets,” Morello explains. “But if you look down, you know if he needs a pair of shoes.”
Boots are essential for a technician. Many technicians stand for hours every day, so they need something that’s going to hold up under that kind of strenuous, constant wear.
“I think over 80 percent of back pain comes from improper footwear,” Steel Blue’s Bedoya says. “Finding footwear that fits properly and is comfortable will help [technicians] not only be more productive throughout the day but will allow them to live life outside of work as well.”
Bedoya advises keeping your truck stocked with a handful of boots in a range of sizes and familiarizing yourself with the unique features of each style. If you’re able to, show customers the inside of the boot and let them push down on the insole. If the boot offers a comfortable interior, they should be able to feel it for themselves.
Whether it's the everyday work boot or something more task-specific like a welding helmet, as a distributor, it’s your job to help figure out what your customers need to keep themselves safe on the job.
