How Personal Protective Equipment Has Evolved

As tough as most humans want to appear to others, the truth is that we’re actually rather fragile, especially when we consider the kinds of hazards that many of us deal with on a daily basis. We’ve always known the world is full of dangers and we’ve done everything we can to come up with ways to protect ourselves from the things in the world that we have no control over. Personal protective equipment dates back much further than many people realize. Even primitive humans knew their limits of what they could take and used their intelligence to create equipment that would make up for the lack of protection we have naturally.

Certainly, things have changed a lot since those days. We’ve been able to make some things much safer, and yet also exposed ourselves to new dangers that our ancestors never even considered dealing with in the past. Technological and mechanical innovations have fixed some problems and created others, and we’ve attempted to keep up with these changes through new advancements in personal protective gear as well.

In this article, we’ll take a deeper look into how personal protective equipment has evolved. Not only is it good to remember where everything started, but it also gives us a look into how new personal protective equipment might be developed in the future based on how we adapted to new technologies in the past.

Personal Protection Beginnings: Ancient Times

As we already mentioned, personal protective equipment can be traced back thousands of years, but most of it served very different purposes than the modern gear we’re now used to. Personal protective equipment went more commonly by a different name, but not one we’re unfamiliar with. Ancient armor was the predecessor of modern personal protective equipment. Helmets, body armor, face gear—pretty much all these things were created for the purpose of protecting the wearer from harm, usually in warfare. Early examples of armor were made almost exclusively for protection, and often made other things, such as mobility and visuals, worse as a tradeoff.

Production in the Middle Ages

Although many speculate that the use of personal protective equipment for purposes besides warfare traces back much further than this, there is concrete evidence that during the Middle Ages, blacksmiths would often wear personal protective equipment. This came in the form of headgear, thick aprons, and gloves in order to protect themselves from the scalding heat of their forges. Similarly, mining operations also had workers wear headgear to protect themselves. The biggest difference between then and now is that personal protective gear was likely far less regulated, and even optional in many cases. In fact, requiring workers to personal protective equipment is a rather new concept when we look at the grand history of humanity’s progress.

The Evolution of Protective Clothing

Protective clothing, such as equipment specifically designed to protect your body and limbs, has been around for a very long time. If we look at how personal protective equipment has evolved, we can see evidence for clothing and other gear as far back as thousands of years ago. One of the earliest signs is actually from Homer’s Odyssey, which includes a description of someone using gloves to protect their hands while working in their garden. So, the concept is not particularly new, but the materials are. Leather was a common material for a lot of personal protective equipment, and even things like sheepskin or animal intestines were used to make gloves for people who worked around materials they knew to be dangerous. With the invention of rubber, plastic, and other materials, personal protective clothing has become sturdier than ever before.

The Evolution of Headgear

Again, we find the origin of protective headgear in warfare before anywhere else. Even before we fully understood our anatomy, we knew that damage to our heads could cause serious issues. Ancient soldiers from as far back as 900 BCE wore headgear to keep themselves safe in battle. Strangely, protective headgear didn’t really catch on with laborers until much later. Records show that protective headgear started to become more common among workers sometime during the 1800’s, possibly due to industrialization or more readily available resources to create them from.

The Evolution of Respiratory Protection

Respiratory protection is one of the newer forms of personal protective equipment. Obviously, the dangers of pathogens and small particulates were never really a concern way back in the day because no one even knew they existed. As science advanced and it became clearer how dangerous these things could be, respiratory protection became vital. In more modern times, respiratory protection was regularly used during WWI, as the war saw every side employing gases and other inhalable toxins as weapons of war. This eventually translated to domestic use as well, preventing people from inhaling dangerous substances such as plastic or metal particulates, viral pathogens, and other toxic chemicals.

The Evolution of High Visibility Clothing

The importance of high visibility clothing is also a relatively new concept, and the technology used in them is also quite new. Fluorescent paint, for example, originates from the 1930’s. Again, we see warfare come into play as the catalyst for expanding this form of personal protective equipment. The U.S. government realized the potential for fluorescent paint as a way to prevent friendly fire during WWII, as well as to create signals and paint important areas with it that the military needed to focus on.

Eventually, hi-vis clothing became a standard at hazardous workplaces as a way to make it easier to see workers on the job. Hi-vis clothing is crucial for reducing on-the-job accidents that can be easily avoided as long as everyone can see their fellow workers at a glance.

Seeing how personal protective equipment has evolved over time can give you an appreciation for the equipment we use every day to keep ourselves safe. Modern materials have given us a lot of peace of mind, and hi-vis, reflective work clothes make it so accidents aren’t nearly as common as they used to be. If you work in an industry where high visibility and safety are paramount to your job, SafetyShirtz wants you to be as safe as possible while still looking your best. Check out our store for the most stylish hi-vis gear you’ll find online.