SIR Safety has joined our stocked range. We took the brand on for a specific reason. A growing number of our customers are looking for workwear that is engineered to a tighter specification, holds its shape through a hard season, and carries a company logo well. SIR Safety does all three, and it does them in a way very few manufacturers manage at once.

We have supplied hi vis, workwear and PPE from our Dock Road factory since 1994, and our range has always been built around giving customers a real choice rather than one answer. Portwest and Supertouch cover the day to day site kit that has to be dependable, well priced and easy to reorder in volume, and they do that job extremely well. SIR Safety sits at the technical and design led end of the same range, for the jobs where the specification is tighter, the hours outdoors are longer, or the team is client facing and the finish counts.

Who SIR Safety are

SIR Safety System is an Italian manufacturer based in Assisi, and rather than producing a clothing line alone they build a complete personal protective equipment system. Workwear, hi vis, multinorm, safety footwear from S1 through to S7, gloves, helmets, respiratory protection, eye protection and fall arrest all come out of the one house.

That is more useful in practice than it sounds. When a single manufacturer covers a full kit list, sizing stays consistent between garments, colours match across a uniform, and the certification paperwork arrives from one source instead of five. For anyone responsible for PPE across a site, that removes a genuine amount of administration.

They hold ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certification, they run their own research and development programme, and outside the safety industry they are best known in Italy as the long standing title sponsor of the Perugia volleyball club. It is a manufacturer with real investment behind it and a reputation to protect, and that consistency shows in the product.

Built to be worn all day

Protective clothing only protects while it is on the wearer. That is the practical case for fit and comfort, and it is where SIR Safety concentrate most of their engineering. The approach is closer to technical outdoor clothing than to traditional workwear.

Cuts are ergonomic, with preformed sleeves that follow the natural line of the arm. Four way stretch fabrics with a spandex content run right through the range, including the hi vis pieces, so movement is not fought at every reach and squat. The detailing is thought through rather than added on: concealed badge holders, a phone pocket with a routing hole for earphones, oversized mesh pockets that take a tablet, ruler and hammer holders on the trouser leg, knee pad pockets, YKK zips, ripstop reinforcement at the hem where trousers wear first.

The Shark Softshell is the piece we hand people first. A 320 gsm softshell with a TPU membrane and a four way stretch microfleece lining, it feels closer to a good hiking jacket than to a work jacket, and it is the one that tends to settle the decision on its own.

Where the premium goes

SIR Safety is priced above general purpose site kit, and it is built to a different brief. The fabrics are laminated polyester twill and technical softshell rather than basic polycotton, the seams on the outer layers are taped and fully waterproof, and the certification is tested and printed on the label rather than implied.

The Andromeda Jacket at the top of the range shows what that buys. Fully waterproof with taped seams, a detachable padded inner, zipped underarm vents with a mesh interior and a detachable adjustable hood, it works across three seasons instead of being a winter only jacket sitting idle for half the year. Judged on cost per wear rather than on the price on the tag, it is a straightforward decision for teams working outdoors year round.

Arc rated and multinorm kit

This is the part of the range we are most interested in for Irish utilities, electrical contractors and pharma sites. SIR Safety produce a full multinorm range, which means single garments certified against several hazards at once rather than layering separate specialist items over one another.

• EN 61482Protection against the thermal effects of an electric arc, classified by arc protection class or by arc rating in cal per square centimetre.
• EN ISO 11612Protection against heat and flame.
• EN ISO 11611Protection during welding and allied processes.
• EN 1149-5Antistatic properties, required in explosive atmospheres.
• EN 13034Limited protection against liquid chemical splash.
• EN ISO 20471High visibility, in Class 1, 2 and 3 depending on the garment.

One point is worth stating plainly, because it is the most common misunderstanding we come across. Arc rated clothing protects against the heat, flame and molten metal thrown out by an arc flash. It does not protect against electric shock from current passing through the body. It is one control within a system, never the system itself.

If you are specifying arc rated clothing, the figure that matters is the arc rating of the garment set against the incident energy identified in your own risk assessment. Send us the assessment and we will match garments to it properly. The multinorm range is available to order now, and we are building out the stocked selection over the coming months.

What we are stocking now

The first selection is live on the site now, weighted towards jackets and trousers because that is where the range is at its strongest. More is landing over the coming weeks.

You can browse everything on the SIR Safety brand page, or see how it sits alongside the rest of our range in hi vis jackets and hi vis workwear.

Want to see it in person?

Samples are the quickest way to judge this range, because the difference is in the handle of the fabric and the fit rather than in the specification sheet. We will bring sizes out to you, or you are very welcome to call into us on the Dock Road. If you are kitting out a team, ask us about account pricing on volume.