Can you brief us about your company?
Malcolm started its journey in 1983. We are providing quality products in safety, in domestic as well as international market. We have exports in around 55 countries around the world. Our products are quality certified. We are an integrated manufacturer of PPEs with a primary focus on all the segments such as head, hand, feet, work wear and industrial garments.

In head section we have safety helmets which are EN and BIS certified. We have both eco-range and premium range of products. We offer face mask range in both surgical and FFP1 and FFP2 range, safety goggles, and ear plugs. In hands sections we have a whole range of gloves starting from leather, cotton, engineered textiles, chemical resistant, and cryogenic gloves. We don't manufacture gloves but we are marketing them in India. Another product range we manufacture is different types of work wear which also has a power range of garments depending on the specification provided by the customer. Rainwear is a latest addition to this. Safety gumboots is another product manufactured under the BIS norms at Mallcom. We also offer wide range of shoes which is also a speciality of Mallcolm. We have two brands in this. The range includes safety shoes, occupational shoes, sporty design shoes, etc catering to different industries.

We have got currently 13 manufacturing facilities established over 500,000 sq ft area. Most of these are located in of West Bengal. We are also coming in with a new facility in Gujarat to produce some range of safety gloves. We have a wide range of end-users which include manufacturing companies from different sectors such as automotive, glass, aluminium, oil and petrochemical, chemical cement, power sector, and government institutions like Indian Navy, Indian Railways, and Ordnance Factories.

What are some trends in the PPE industry today?
It is a common saying in the industry that PPEs are the last line of defence for the worker. If we go 10 years back, PPEs available at that point of time have drastically changed today. Previously, there was a tendency to use one set of gloves which served all the purpose, but today companies are looking at hazard specific solutions. Every industry has got some specific hazards. Sometimes factory itself has different areas which has got different type of hazards. Identifying those hazards and giving a solution to these companies is the role company like Mallcom plays. We do a walkthrough survey and try to understand the nature of job which is being done on the shopfloor, and provide the products accordingly ensuring the safety as well as the commercial aspects for the company.

Second trend which I have observed as a professional is advanced and ergonomically designed PPE. If what we manufacture is not user friendly, then there will be a resistance from the worker to wear it. The PPEs has to be safe, it has to be light and also serve the purpose. Technological advancement is a key factor driving the development of such PPEs in the market.

The third trend is customisation as every customer has got a different need. Nowadays, people are bored with the traditional outlook of the products. They want safety shoes, which are trendy, safe and conforms to the standards. For example multicolored shoe is a trend, workers demand such products which can be worn outside the factory hours as well.

What steps can be taken to improve the safety of the workplace?
This is a sector where we do not target the 100 but we target zero in terms of zero accidents, zero injuries, and zero tragedy. It is not an easy task to arrive at this zero as zero incidents is an ideal situation. The factory managers and HSE department has to take certain steps. At a workplace, there are a lot of safety slogans around the plant, which are put into different languages including local language. The aim is not only to ensure the safety of workers on the company payroll but also of a lot of contractual workers, contractors who visit the sites. Today, awareness has drastically increased. The organised companies and cooperatives are working to make shopfloor safer. They are constantly reminding their workers that it is a collaborative responsibility of all to ensure the safety at the workplace. They are trying to build a safety culture within the organisation.

There is another concept of tool talk at the workplaces. The lead manager or the supervisors are making it a practice to talk with workers on how to handle the tools at beginning of the shift. This 15 minutes talk is of prime importance for every shift because the person may or may not be aware of the hazards at that shopfloor. The employees on the other side have to be involved in the workplace safety. The big companies are investing a lot of time in training people on safety culture. There is a National Safety Day which is celebrated on March 4. There are competitions held for safety slogans and other safety related activities. So, companies are doing a lot such things to keep the workers engaged with the workplace safety.

According to you, how SMEs and MSMEs are looking at safety norms at the workplace?
In India, safety is not a very essential part unfortunately. This trend will definitely improve but it has a long way to go. I believe safety is an investment on your workers to increase their productivity and provide them a safe working environment. But companies are still is on the thought that safety is a liability and not an investment. They do not want to spend on safety gadgets, PPE kits etc. See, India is a big country and the price of human life is not that considerable. But we definitely have to change this mind-set and I think it will take some time for small companies to reach this stage of thought. Definitely the awareness is there today and we will reach there soon.

Is automation driving any changes in the safety industry?
In the automation lead there is a long way for India to go. But there is a concept of smart PPEs which is currently taking shape in the US and European markets. These are some AI driven products which will be designed for workers operating in confined area where the accessibility is very less and communication is not possible. So these kind of jackets can be tracked from a central monitoring system and will alert in front of a danger with a signal. So these types of smart safety things are taking shape but this is in a very nascent stage.

What are your growth plans for the company?
The company is in a growth trajectory. We are planning to enter new uncharted territories. We are focusing on European, African, Australian, US and Middle East markets. These countries follow their own safety standards and we are geared up for the stringent norms. We are also having some new products in the pipeline to come. We are also working on making a strong presence in the government sector. We aim to reach around 500 crore in the next financial year with increasing the manpower and our sales team in domestic as well as the international markets. Mallcom team is also looking to present itself at industry specific exhibitions to reach out to B2B customers.