On 25 June, Safety and Health Magazine published the responses from a survey of over a dozen personal protective equipment (PPE) manufacturers regarding recent industry trends, challenges and technological innovations. When asked what recent trends PPE manufacturers have observed, responses included a variety of topics, including: customers making their purchase decisions based on quality over price; customers expecting manufacturers to keep track of legislation updates and to help customers keep up with them; workers wearing more brightly coloured clothing at the workplace; manufacturers paying increased attention to customer needs, and so on. The manufacturers also reported a range of industry challenges, including the difficulty of keeping up with recent demand for custom PPE as well as with constant changes in the ‘alphabet soup’ of national and international standards. Responses regarding technological innovations in PPE were roughly split between built-in data-gathering technology and nanotechnology in the synthetic fibers used in protective gloves. Overall, despite a slight air of disarray from legislative changes and new customer demands, the PPE industry appears to have a positive outlook; the market is expected to nearly double by 2024. Read more here.