Protect your vision

Bollé Safety shields Australia during bushfire season

BOLLÉ SAFETY’S START TO THE YEAR HAS BEEN BUSIER THAN USUAL, AS UNPRECEDENTED EVENTS INCLUDING THE AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRES AND THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK INCREASED DEMAND FOR EYE AND FACE PROTECTION. SALOMAE HASELGROVE WRITES. A s one of Australia’s most pop ular safety eyewear brands, Bollé Safety has been shielding workers from the potential for eye and face damage, with its first pair of safety goggles hitting the market in the 1950s.

In the mining sector, Bollé Safety’s most popular models are Prism and Rush+, the latter being the first product from the manufacturer to feature the Platinum anti-fog and anti-scratch coating applied by a dipping process on the inside and outside of the lens.

With fogging and scratching being two of the biggest issues in markets such as mining, the popularity of the Platinum coating quickly made its way to other Bollé Safety styles, with 22 products now comprising this feature.

Bollé Safety has this year experienced demand in less conventional areas, following a devastating Australian bushfire season during the summer months.

The company experienced a large surge during January for its fire safety goggles, the Backdraft and Pilot 2, according to national business development manager Craig Yuile.

“At the moment the market is a little unprecedented with the fire season,” Yuile tells Safe to Work. “Throughout the January period, our fire goggle requirements went through the roof.”

As well as providing eye protection equipment for those fighting fires, Bollé Safety has taken the extra step to provide support for organisations like the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS).

Bollé Safety supplied products to the most affected areas of New South Wales and made donations to help the impacted communities during this troubling time, as well as running its own promotion featuring its new product, Mercuro.

“Until the end of March, we will donate $1 from every goggle supplied through distribution to the most affected RFS organisations around Australia,” Yuile says.

“Second to that, we did a deal with Essential Energy, where we reduced the price of one of our products for their workers as a reward. The Rush+ is one of Bollé Safety’s most popular products. © Bollé Safety – F Bourcier.

© Bollé Safety – F Bourcier.

Bollé Safety’s Cobra model.

“They had to change up to 600 power poles in the North Coast region of New South Wales, so we basically did a deal with one of our local distributors on our new product Mercuro, and offered that to the guys involved in the replacement of poles as recognition for their work.

“Internationally, Australia has been in the spotlight for what is going on, so it is the least Bollé Safety could do to help our local communities during that time.”

Not long after the Australian bushfire crisis started to settle down, Bollé Safety was hit with more unique requirements as the knowledge of the coronavirus evolved and reached Australia.

“Rolling into what’s going on globally with the coronavirus outbreak, it’s having a fair impact on goggle requirements,” Yuile explains.

Despite interruption from these exceptional events, Bollé Safety is continuing to focus on its usual areas within the safety industry, ensuring people are protected at work.

While hand and finger injuries might be more common in industrial and resource fields, Yuile says eye injuries are a larger concern, as the consequences if something goes wrong are far more dire.

“The most common injury in the industry is hands and fingers,” he says. “That’s because you’re touching, feeling and picking things up and your hands can get squashed.

“You can still function if you have a hand injury but if you lose an eye, you never get that back.”

The importance of eye health is the company’s priority as it sets out to continue developing new products throughout 2020, including a product range launch during May.

Although Bollé Safety is globally recognised for its safety culture, Yuile says staying locally minded and dedicated to looking after the company’s clients is the basis of its success.

The Baxter safety glasses by Bollé Safety.

“The brand is big, there’s no doubt about it,” he says. “But if you don’t have quality people it doesn’t matter how big your brand is; Bollé is what it is because of our people.

“If someone goes to work, we need them to get home, be safe and have their eyesight in check no matter what industry they work in.”

Bollé Safety has provided relief to communities affected by the Australian bushfires.