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October 2023 - Engineering

80% of women in ground engineering have problems with personal protective equipment: A recent survey has revealed eight out of 10 women surveyed have been provided with PPE that doesn’t fit them at some point in their career, with a third (32%) saying they felt unsafe because of ill-fitting PPE.

The survey published on the ‘Bold as Brass’ LinkedIn group was answered by 130 women who work in construction, mining, and quarrying. The group is a support network for women who work in these industries. The survey also found that 28% of women have been on sites with no PPE provision for women at all, an off-putting statistic for women interested in entering these sectors.

Further findings from the survey suggested that 5% of women in ground engineering have been prevented from working due to personal protective equipment not being available in their size. The problem according to the group’s founder, Katherine Evans, is that PPE is designed to fit the average man’s body shape, so even when it is marketed as unisex, it still tends to be a male fit.

Footwear

A previous survey on protective footwear, involving 632 respondents, found that 63% of women found their footwear uncomfortable, compared to 45% of men. Debbie Janson, an ex-mechanical engineer who conducted the survey said she also found that women were more likely to get blisters and bruising than males in the industry because of the shape and sizing of the boots. They, too tend to be modelled around the average male’s foot. 

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