Video: Building a Safer Workplace with MSC

We spoke with safety experts about working with MSC to build a safer workplace 

Here’s what they told us:

“Safety has always been a real passion of mine and it stems from the loss of my father when I was young … he was in a manufacturing facility and his death was the result of a safety incident.” 

Marianne Santangelo, Kimberly-Clark

Q: What does workplace safety mean to you?

“Losing my father is very personal, so when I go into a manufacturing facility, I want each and every worker to be taking pride in their own safety so that they go home to their families.”

Marianne Santangelo, Kimberly-Clark

“You know, I’m a salesperson and there’s a billion things I could choose to sell in the world, but when you sell safety equipment, it’s really gratifying to know that what you sell is something that keeps a person safe in a job that could potentially injure them.”

Nora Kirby, PIP USA

“I still relate back to the employee that I met probably around 12 years ago. She’d been in her job for at least 26 years. She was working a machine and I looked down at her hands because at Ansell we sell gloves and she had on a pair of gloves, but yet she was wrapping duct tape around the glove, so I walked up to her and I asked her: ‘Ma’am, can I ask why you’re putting duct tape around your glove?’ And she said to me: ‘Because I know that this is where I’m going to get poked; that there’s going to be sharp objects coming through on my daily job that are going to poke me in the hand.’ And I said: ‘Have you had one lately?’ And she goes: ‘You tell me what you think?’ And she took off her glove and sure enough on the palm of her hand were different places where sharp metals were coming through and poking her in the palm. I looked back at our sales rep, I looked back at the distributor, and I looked back at the safety officer, and I said: ‘We’ve got to do something about this.’”

Daryl Charton, Ansell 

“My theory is, or at least my perception is, look, a worker needs to be able to return home as safe as they arrive when they got to work. And not just today, to their family, friends and communities, but through the course of their career.”

Glenn Schilling, 3M

“We’ve had multiple instances of customers reaching out saying that the PPE we make has saved their life. That’s what motivates us to keep innovating and making sure we understand their needs, and staying ahead of the curve.”

Rahil Hasan, Honeywell

Q: Why is MSC a particularly effective safety partner?

“One of the things that I personally love is their MRO focus in that it really provides thought leadership and a lot of insights on different safety topics so that as their customers come to their website, you know, if it’s a safety manager, there are great articles they could share with their workers.”

Marianne Santangelo, Kimberly-Clark

“What I know about MSC that sets it apart from everyone else is the legacy and the relationships that the MSC salespeople have at the end users or at the customer level. There is a tenured, seasoned-type sales team that develops these long-lasting relationships and there’s a loyal customer always there every time I go into an MSC account.” 

Daryl Charton, Ansell

“The most important thing is to understand the customer’s needs and what the challenges are that they have on a site, and then the second part is solving those problems, whether that be providing training, cost-effective products, maybe something you could utilize that would improve the process and productivity, and then of course management of the product itself, whether that be through vending, consignment or vendor managed inventory. So they offer really a comprehensive program to a customer to solve the problems from a safety perspective, not just selling you: ‘Here’s a glove. Thank you. Goodbye.’” 

Nora Kirby, PIP USA 

Q: Which MSC programs and services are most important to you?

“One of the programs we worked on in 2021 was around RightCycle, and that is, we know in manufacturing sustainability is becoming more and more important, and especially for their safety specialists, they’re always looking for different ways to bring value and help their customers reduce their overall costs. The RightCycle program is a great way to do that because if you look at PPE, the safety items and solutions that Kimberly-Clark provides—the gloves, the eyewear, the apparel, the respiratory—with COVID, the usage has greatly increased. So RightCycle can help with them meeting their sustainability initiatives and also reducing their overall disposal costs.” 

Marianne Santangelo, Kimberly-Clark

“They will come in and evaluate your site, evaluate what the jobs are, bring their expert vendors in to help you solve problems. They have safety specialists who can do evaluations of your plant, from front door to back door, make recommendations on the proper products, whether that be to improve your efficiencies, to protect your people better than what you’re currently using, to provide cost savings with like product from what you’re currently using, but they really look at your safety program as an entire approach; it’s not just selling you product.”

Nora Kirby, PIP USA 

“What comes to mind immediately is that MSC has the safety specialist offering. When you have a safety specialist with a title at the end—a QSSP, or qualified safety sales professional—that speaks volumes to the customer, and why is that? Because they can help bring those solutions forward; they can help find, in my opinion, they can help find uncommon safety solutions and present ways that keep employees safe.”

Glenn Schilling, 3M

“I think that is really the essence of MSC: They are a solution-based supplier and distributor, and not just selling product. They really want to sell a solution to a problem for a customer.”

Nora Kirby, PIP USA 

What’s your workplace safety story? Why is it so important to you, and what experiences can you share about making sure your workplace is as safe as possible? Share your stories in the comments below.