Giving workers a hand

Saf-T-Gard International boasts the
nation’s largest independent rubber
insulating products lab.

by Rich Vurva

The purpose of most work gloves is simply to keep workers from cutting or scraping their hands. But some gloves play a far more important role in the workplace. For example, equipping utility workers and other employees who work near live electrical lines with rubber insulating gloves is literally a life or death situation.

“If a cotton glove fails, a worker may get a cut or scrape on his hand. If a high-voltage rubber insulating glove fails, he could die,” says Richard Rivkin, president of Saf-T-Gard International, a safety distributor in Northbrook, Ill.

Rubber insulating gloves must incorporate high dielectric and physical strength, along with flexibility and durability. They also must meet or exceed American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) specifications and be periodically tested to ensure their ability to protect wearers from harm. A Class 2 glove, for instance, is rated to protect workers from a maximum 17,000-volt charge and must pass a proof test at 20,000 volts.

Major utility companies own testing facilities that clean, test and recertify rubber insulating gloves and other protective gear designed for high-voltage applications. Other utilities, telecommunications, cable TV and industrial companies rely on commercial labs to perform their testing and recertification.

Saf-T-Gard boasts the nation’s largest independent rubber insulating products lab. Customers send rubber gloves, sleeves, shoulder harnesses and insulating blankets to the company’s Chicago area laboratory where they’re first tagged and sorted for recordkeeping and then undergo cleaning, visual inspection for holes, rips, tears and signs of ozone or chemical damage. The final step in the process is to perform electrical tests to make sure the products continue to provide protection.

“We have an arrangement with most customers to sell them a replacement product if their products fail testing,” says Rivkin. Some customers occasionally object if they feel too many products fail the tests. When that happens, Rivkin explains why the product failed and also uses it as an opportunity to provide additional training in the proper care and handling of rubber insulating products.

“We have lost a few customers who thought we were being too strict and failing too many products. In each case, we pointed out why we failed the product. It might pass an electrical test now but the physical damage is a cautionary sign that it might not be good in two months. Quite frankly, we don’t want to take the risk,” Rivkin says.

The testing and recertification lab is just one example of how Saf-T-Gard created a service to fulfill a specific need in the marketplace. It’s a key reason the utility customer segment now represents about 25 percent of Saf-T-Gard’s $20 million in annual sales.

Industrial base remains strong
Although sales of services and personal protective equipment to utility customers has grown, industrial facilities still represent the company’s largest customer segment. Representing 43 percent of sales, the segment includes customers in all 50 states in industries as diverse as chemicals, metals, wood and food processing and other types of industrial facilities.

Rivkin’s grandparents, Leo and Lillian Rivkin, founded the Latex Glove Company in Chicago in 1936. It operated primarily as a manufacturer of rubber-coated work gloves and leather gloves for more than a quarter of a century. Their son, Norman, took over as president in 1964 after the death of his father. The company began offering additional safety products such as hard hats, safety eyewear, protective clothing and footwear after OSHA was established in 1970.

“As we expanded from gloves into other categories, we have kept sight of our mission, which is to protect the worker from the hazards of his or her job or to protect products and processes from contamination by workers,” says Rivkin, who succeeded his father as president in 1994.

The company changed its name in 1989 to better reflect its position as a full-line PPE distributor. Today, it represents most major glove manufacturers but also sells imported private label products under the Saf-T-Gard, Voltgard, Solva-Gard, Therma-Gard and other brand names. Rivkin won’t disclose sales by brand, but says the company sells more of its own private label products than any single supplier’s brand.

“Obviously all of our supplier partners would like us to exclusively promote their brands and be an extension of their marketing focus. That’s the classic definition of a distributor, to be an extension of their manufacturers’ marketing programs. We have chosen to flip that relationship 180 degrees,” says Rivkin. “We turn our focus to our customers and their needs, and then have the ability to draw from the resources of all of our manufacturers and find the best product that suits that customer’s needs.”

Rivkin says the private label brands enable Saf-T-Gard to provide an alternative to price-sensitive customers without sacrificing quality.

“If the customer assigns value to a brand name they recognize and have comfort with, that’s got to be part of the product mix. Similarly, if our suppliers bring us sales opportunities, we’re going to respond with the products in that manufacturer’s product range. We’re not taking orders for Brand A and switching it to our own brand,” he says.

Export business opens doors
Export business and sales to other distribution channels each represent about 13 percent of the company’s revenues. Customers in Southeast Asia and Latin America comprise the bulk of its export business, but the company sells to 45 countries worldwide. It received the President’s E Award in 1997 from then-Secretary of Commerce William Daly. The award recognizes companies that show evidence of a substantial increase in volume of exports over a four-year period.

It sells to developing and developed nations, primarily through distributors in the local region. Rivkin anticipates that a new online e-commerce catalog scheduled to go live in early summer will open up additional growth opportunities overseas and in the domestic market.

“We see opportunities for growth in all of our segments. I’m not willing to throw in the towel on industrial sales in North America. I think we have to work smarter and find new opportunities, but I’m still optimistic about industrial business in the U.S.,” he says.
He says there are still too many injuries that can be prevented or minimized by the proper use of safety equipment. Professional safety distributors have an obligation and an opportunity to get the message out to industrial customers about how to increase job site safety, Rivkin says. Raised awareness about electrical hazards on the job site, aided in part by publication of the NFPA 70E-2004 standard requiring the use of arc flash PPE while working on or near live power, is one example.

He recognizes that infiltration by other channels of distribution into the safety product arena, including big box retailers and catalogs, has impacted sales of safety distributors. He says safety distributors can play an important role in helping customers evaluate their safety requirements.

“Without a personal sales representative getting an understanding of the individual person’s needs, it’s virtually impossible to make an evaluation in terms of squeezing inefficiencies out, or to get people to try a new product that will address the issues of safety, performance and comfort,” Rivkin says. “There are a lot of things you can buy from a catalog, but because the first word in PPE is still personal, we don’t want to lose that personal touch.”

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2006 issue of Progressive Distributor. Copyright 2006.

back to top                                   back to cover story archives