Everything you need, in one place

RICHARD HEPPELL, COO and president of SHOWA Europe, Middle East and Africa, the Americas as well as Oceania, introduces the newly revamped ChemRest platform.

Organisations collectively lose thousands of work days each year because of employee injuries. These can include chemical burns, skin irritations and exposure to harsh corrosions.

At work, hands are exposed to risk every day and represent 20% of all injuries; the average cost of a hand injury is €4 000. Hand protection is therefore an essential area for employers to address.

I am excited to share that SHOWA has combined its expertise in chemistry and chemical resistant materials, together with top-of-the-line glove manufacturing processes, to launch its comprehensive chemical protection platform: ChemRest.

ChemRest is an achievement made possible by the tireless efforts across our global organisation to harness SHOWA’s manufacturing, R&D and safety capabilities.

We have also built various centres that integrate our biodegradable technology into all product categories to reduce the impact on the environment. We have expanded manufacturing in Guatemala and Vietnam for neoprene and nitrile unsupported gloves, and in Fayette, Alabama for single-use nitrile gloves.

With this foundation, SHOWA can more quickly develop and launch competitive product lines. We are now bringing to market six new chemical-resistant gloves as part of our ChemRest series, fully aligned with EN ISO 374-1:2016 and the American Society for Testing and Materials requirements and standards for gloves to protect against dangerous chemicals.

Chemical risks don’t stop at the surface

Your protection shouldn’t stop at the surface either! Not only does ChemRest help safety professionals protect against the chemical risks you can see, but also against the ones you can’t. By offering a three-dimensional hazards assessment, ChemRest helps identify and prevent these “silent killer” chemical hazards that attack glove material and lead to glove degradation
and permeation.

It starts by simplifying what is often a complex process by offering safety professionals easy access to up-to-date knowledge, expertise and tools. There are more than 350 000 chemicals and chemical mixtures registered for commercial production and use across the globe – which is a lot to keep track of without a user-friendly solution.

With the ChemRest platform you don’t have to: ChemRest offers essential guidance on topics such as chemical resistance norms and chemical permeation data by glove or a chemical Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) number. Our glove experts can then evaluate customers’ risks and specific needs, and test their existing gloves against chemical hazards that they may encounter.

With that knowledge in hand, customers can make better and more informed decisions. ChemRest also unlocks a significantly expanded product range for our global distribution partners – products that are optimised to the specific needs.

We have made it easy to get started by displaying all ChemRest test data on ChemRest.com. You can access the ChemRest concept, which includes educational assets, request an on-site evaluation with a SHOWA hand protection expert and explore our expanded chemical protective product range.

All of our chemical protection products, including single-use, unsupported and supported nitrile, Neoprene, Viton and Butyl, are within the ChemRest platform of solutions – now available under one brand and accessible through one platform.