Tomboy at Work - Part 3 - Safety Gear

This is Part 3 of an ongoing series with tips for tomboys entering the industrial workplace for the first time. You can find Part 1, where I go into proper dress and Part 2 where I discuss how to stay feminine but safe.

If you are going in to the industrial workplace for the first time you need a run down of safety gear. It's important to have your own for sanitary reasons and because most of the time as a female in an industrial workplace they don't have your size. 

The rule of thumb for safety gear:

 "It's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."

1. See no Evil

You don't want others to use your personal eye gear for the same reason that you don't want other girls to use your eye makeup. You can give each other pink eye, or any number of eye related diseases. I have many different types of protective glasses. Below are the two standard general purpose sets that I use.

    

The open set doesn't fog up as easily but there is a chance that something can get under the protective lenses and get in your eye. I carry both of the above with me to every job-site I go to.

Other types of Protective eye gear depend on what you are going to be doing. For example if you are going to be welding you are going to need a welding hood. Or if your going to be on a construction site in the sun, you might one a set of amber colored safety glasses to help with glare. If you are going to be grinding you want either a full face hood or something that seals snugly around your eyes.

You can get some pretty great looking goggles online these days with replaceable lenses, just make sure you can actually see out of them. I had a pal who got a great set of steam punk goggles but they angled out instead of straight ahead and they blocked her vision.

2. Speak no Evil

Do not share masks or respirators. It's not sanitary. Do you want someone else's mouth filth?

The white disposable masks are not expensive and often work places have them in abundance. The grey disposable masks that are for heavy duty dust. These are great because they have a charcoal body to breath through.

If you are dealing with standard dust a mask is probably fine, but if you are dealing with toxic fumes or small volatile particles you are going to want a respirator with a charcoal filter like the one below

Refer to my Tomboy Tip on how to properly fit a standard respirator here.

NOTE: If you need to use a full face respirator with a separate air supply ask for a tutorial or a rundown of the ins and outs. When it comes to clean room work or your safety around something super toxic don't fuck around. Get the facts. Research the risks. If you don't get a tutorial for something like this from your place of work there was a mistake.

3. Hear no Evil
Keep you own set of ear plugs handy. Do not share with others. When it comes to ear plugs make sure you are not completely blocked off from the world, awareness is important in an industrial setting and we use our ears much more than we realize for this purpose.

Their are many types of ear plugs out there and the general squishy foam ones are often at the work place for use. They are usually brightly colored so others know you have them in and can act accordingly.

Gummy silicone earplugs get dirty easily, but I like them because you can adjust the amount of material that you need for different levels of hearing protection. Get a bright color so people know you have them on and don't put them in your ear, you put them over the opening to the ear canal.

4. Touch no Evil
Shared work gloves are not so much a sanitary hazard (though they get sweaty) but rather a problem with fit. I can't tell you how many times I've been to a work place and the only size disposable gloves they have are large. I have small hands. It's often helpful to have small hands to get into tight spaces and to do super "fine work", but it downright blows having gloves that flop all over the place and get in your way when trying to do said "fine work."

Disposable latex gloves come in handy for anything that needs to be handled with care or if you need a lot of dexterity. Most work places will have these in abundance. If you are allergic to latex there are lots of latex free alternatives out there and you might want to get a box for yourself.

Rubber grip cloth gloves or just rubber gloves if you are using a liquid are great for general protection and still retain some of the dexterity you need.

Leather gloves are good for ruff and tumble out-doors work. They have maximum protection but minimal dexterity.

The biggest factor in safety in making sure you keep a good head on your shoulders. If you feel unsafe don't be afraid to ask.

I hope this sheds some light on safety gear for new tomboys going into and industrial work place for the first time. If I missed something feel free to add it in the comments.

In Part 4 of "Tomboy at Work" I will be going over basic tips to impress the boys at the workplace. 

Tomboys UNITE!

<3 Tiger

My current line of work is that of an industrial nature. I make hand crafted stop motion puppets, props and sets. I use power tools and work in an environment with toxic materials. Even early in life when I did my best to have "girlish" careers they where the "skilled behind the scenes type of job". My first paying job at the tender age of 14 was that of a seamstress. I worked with industrial machines, made patterns, and designed clothing. I started out as a swim suit model for the company I ultimately ended up making clothing for.