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- Jodi Huettner
CEO Helga Wear Inc,
Inclusive Standards Advocate, and
Canadian Professional Speaker
"Women are essential to our trades and active STEMM industries, and Canada is pouring resources into drawing women in...
But once on the job, our tools, equipment, machinery, even our PPE can be sending us the message that
we do not belong."
-Jodi
Hello stranger, I'm Jodi.
I founded Helga Wear because my PPE never fit me properly, and didn't meet my body's basic hygiene needs.
I felt like I couldn't speak up about it, and I couldn't refuse work even though I didn't feel safe. This affected my physical health and safety, my productivity, and my psychological safety at work.
That's why I modified my gear to work for my body: to fit me, and to help me use the washroom more like the guys could. In my case it ended up saving me about an hour a day, and having an option for quick toileting without removing my outerwear allowed me to hydrate and toilet properly on my active outdoor job sites.
I have witnessed women modifying their PPE in all sorts of ways, or using work-arounds to make their PPE fit, rather than reporting the potential hazards. It is an all-too-common practise that can actually end up further impacting women's health and safety at work.
My Mission
At Helga Wear, every product is developed using women's body data, womenswear grading rules, and field tested to perfection on working tradeswomen.
But this is not typical in the PPE industry, and it is not yet required.
In fact, the reason women have been so disproportionately affected by ill-fitting PPE comes down to us having no choice but to fit in to PPE designed for the standard male body.
To date, there is no official recognition in Canada that women's bodies are statistically distinct in proportion from men's, and that safety (or any) products must be designed accordingly.
"women should be fit with proper PPE, not forced to fit in to whatever happens to be on-hand."
-Jodi
But it's not all doom and gloom my friends, because things are starting to change. I see more stakeholders coming around to having conversations about women and PPE fit...more than I have in 9 years.
Best part is that there is an exciting opportunity here to unite and speak out against this obvious and unjust omission, and to be at the forefront of the action for change!
I enthusiastically encourage any parties interested in taking action to contact me for a discovery call. I will happily provide you with information and resources to support your journey to introducing women's PPE on your job sites today.
~for more information about how YOU can get involved in changing the story for women wearing PPE, book a discovery call with Jodi at jodi@helgawear.com today!
President & CEO of Helga Wear
B. Eng. in Mechanical Engineering,
Concentration: Computer Integrated Manufacturing
Minor: Law