3M captures the spark of new ideas and transforms them into thousands of ingenious products. “Our culture of creative collaboration inspires a never-ending stream of powerful technologies that make life better. 3M is the innovation company that never stops inventing,” says a company spokesperson.

With $31 billion in sales, 3M employs about 84,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 70 countries.

3M has been operating in Saudi Arabia for over 25 years, and its physical presence has been expanding as it has offices in both Riyadh and Jeddah. Expansion to other areas is taking place in the near future, says the spokesperson. “The country presents many opportunities across a range of market segments, and we are currently active in up to 40 different segments of the economy,” he adds.

“As one of the world’s leading suppliers of safety and protective equipment, our goal is to ensure that we satisfy customer’s needs through the provision of exceptional leadership, expertise, quality and service excellence. In oil and gas, we have many solutions that are technology-based. We play a major role in the field of worker safety and visibility,” he says.

3M is passionate about protecting the health and safety of workers in all types of industries and workforce environments especially the workforce in the oil and gas industry because of the high hazardous environment they are working in, he adds.

3M’s personal safety lab, CTC Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“We have a passion for health and safety and we know the challenges of their profession. It comes natural for us to share the pride and concern they put into their work to address the ergonomic and safety issues facing them every day. Their thoughts and opinions are the bottom line in our continuous search for innovation. This passion helps drive us to continue to innovate across technologies, disciplines, and industries to help keep your workers safe and protected.

“We strive to deliver comfortable, well-designed personal protective equipment (PPE) that offers workers the most effective protection available. They can buy 3M Safety PPE, confident in the knowledge and continuous technical support that 3M is working hard to provide before and after buying 3M products that employees will feel good about wearing,” he says.

Forty years and thousands of patents later, 3M now offers an extensive family of Personal Protective equipment (PPE). In addition to bringing new innovations to the market, it is constantly enhancing products with new technology and materials.

“3M has remained at the forefront of worker safety. Trust your PPE to a company that has the support and services you’ve needed for decades past and can rely on for years to come,” the spokesperson says.

“When you’re already the standard for others to follow, innovation is the way to keep the lead. All our protection equipment do benefit from our commitment to constant development,” he adds.

3M is a global leader in providing personal protective solutions in the oil and gas industry with products such as Peltor communication and Active listening headsets that are used in hazardous, high noise environments especially when it comes to work in areas where one is looking for an intrinsically safe solutions. Also one can find out how 3M detection instruments can help make a job easier and very user friendly interface in downloading all the collected data into a computer and establish own reports.

“3M Fall Protection provides safe and secure product solutions that can be trusted by employees who work at height. We also have the technical resources to help with the Competent Person Training and on site fall hazard evaluations,” he says.

3M has taken bold steps to revolutionise product design in head and face protection. With award-winning lightweight designs, 3M has taken hard hats to a new level of comfort and durability. It has innovated a new technique that enables the entire workforce to know when they must replace their own helmets.

“3M is the global authority in helping firms solve their most complex hearing protection challenges: from detection to protection to validation and we called this concept a Hearing Conservation Programme.

“Inspired by their reality, we shape the future of welding so they can get on with the job of shaping ours. More than 35 years ago, we went to the shipyards of Sweden to study welders working situation. We found skilled craftsmen blindly striking arcs as they continually nodded their shields down. Since then, we have committed to developing tools that forever change the world of the welder. From the first groundbreaking auto-darkening welding helmet in 1981 to our current lineup of state-of-the-art welding safety products, we continue to revolutionise your world,” he explains.

In 1972, 3M introduced the first NIOSH-approved disposable filtering face piece respirator, and continues to be a pioneer in the development and manufacturing of quality work safety respiratory products including disposable, reusable and powered and supplied air respirators that include the intrinsically safe features.

3M protective eyewear includes a variety of modern and stylish products in a choice of hand. It’s eyewear is available with a selection of coatings, lens types and accessories.

“Also we grant you the ability to conduct an assessment based merely on the size and adjustable features of a given piece of eyewear which are not always adequate to determine the best fit. The 3M Eyewear Fit System, utilising the coverage and gap gauge tools, will help assess four elements of protective eyewear fit,” the spokesman says. For those exposed to harmful dust, light liquid splashes and sprays or biological contaminants, 3M introduces a line of disposable coveralls to help protect at risk workers, used for a variety of applications that offer quality and reliability; helping workers maneuver freely and do their jobs effectively.

“3M Safety Vest helps enhance the visibility of the wearer in nighttime or low-light conditions when illuminated by a light source, such as headlights,” he adds.