Producer
MSA Safety
Leading global manufacturer of safety equipment including SCBA (G1 platform), turnout gear (Globe brand acquired July 2017 for $215M), gas detection, and thermal imaging. Combining dominant SCBA and turnout gear positions makes MSA the largest US supplier of structural firefighter life-safety equipment.
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SCBA (Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus)
30%Globe Turnout Gear (Structural Firefighter PPE)
20%Gas Detection (Industrial + Emergency Response)
30%Fall Protection + Thermal Imaging
20%
Intelligence
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Did you know2023
MSA Safety's ALTAIR 4X multi-gas detector — marketed for fire department atmospheric monitoring — is also the most widely used portable gas detector in oil refineries, chemical plants, underground mines, and sewage treatment facilities globally. The same device monitors oxygen deficiency, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, and combustible gas concentration — the four atmospheric hazards most likely to kill workers across every industry where confined spaces, process leaks, or combustion are present. Fire departments use ALTAIR 4X before entering chemical incident scenes; oil platform workers use it during daily rounds; mine rescue teams carry it for post-blast atmospheric assessment. A safety equipment company founded to protect coal miners also protects the oil industry workers extracting the fossil fuels that replaced coal, creating an unusual continuity across the energy transition in worker safety supply chains.
MSA Safety Incorporated ↗Capacity2023
MSA Safety's Globe turnout gear uses outer shell materials including Nomex (meta-aramid from Arclin, formerly DuPont) and historically PBO/Zylon fiber. Globe's use of Zylon in turnout gear created unexpected supply chain exposure to the same Toyobo/Zylon degradation problem that affected bulletproof vests (see Toyobo): Zylon-containing garments degrade under UV light and humidity, raising concerns about thermal protection reliability in aged turnout gear. NFPA tested and eventually concluded Zylon-containing turnout gear meets standards, but the episode illustrated how a single specialty fiber company's quality/reliability issue can cascade across entirely different safety applications — from law enforcement bulletproof protection to firefighter thermal protection — when the same material is used in both.
Globe Manufacturing (MSA Safety) ↗Origin2023
MSA Safety was founded in 1914 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by John T. Ryan and George H. Deike as Mine Safety Appliances Company — created specifically to reduce mining fatalities following the Monongah Mine Disaster (1907, 362 deaths) and the Cherry Mine Disaster (1909, 259 deaths), which drove USBM (US Bureau of Mines) mandates for respiratory protection. MSA's founding mission of mine safety through engineering products expanded over a century to include fire service, industrial, construction, and military safety equipment. The 2017 acquisition of Globe Manufacturing — a New Hampshire turnout gear maker founded 1887, older than MSA itself — brought MSA the dominant US structural firefighter protective clothing brand, making MSA the single largest supplier of structural firefighter life-safety equipment (SCBA + turnout gear) in the United States.
MSA Safety Incorporated ↗Concentration2017
MSA Safety acquired Globe Manufacturing — North America's oldest (est. 1887) and largest turnout gear manufacturer — for $215 million in July 2017. This combined MSA's dominant SCBA position (G1 platform) with Globe's dominant turnout gear position, creating a single company with commanding market position across two of the most critical structural firefighter PPE categories. The combined entity is now the largest US supplier of firefighter life-safety equipment.
MSA Safety Incorporated Investor Relations ↗