Safety is more important than ever, there’s no doubt about it. The global population of today is more conscious of the benefits of protective gear and safety equipment than any that came before. But who, exactly, is bringing us this gear and equipment that keeps us all safe and healthy? Some of the names are publicly traded giants that may surprise you.

Publicly Traded Companies Behind Key Safety Equipment

Wolverine Worldwide (Tii:WWW)

Well known as a global marketer of footwear, apparel, and accessories, Wolverine Worldwide supports a portfolio of brands that include Chaco, Bates, Sperry, Merrell, Hush Puppies, Keds, and Stride Rite in addition to its namesake Wolverine and Wolverine Leathers consumer lines. You might not have realized, however, that Wolverine Worldwide is also the parent company behind CAT and HyTest safety shoes. Incorporating features such as steel toes and/or other key safety infrastructure into every shoe, CAT and HyTest sell sturdy and comfortable footwear for a variety of jobs and purposes.

Mine Safety (Tii:MSA)

MSA Safety Incorporated develops, manufactures, and supplies safety products that protect people and facility infrastructures in the oil, gas, petrochemical, fire service, construction, industrial manufacturing applications, utilities, and mining industries in North America, Latin America, and internationally. The company's core product offerings include permanently installed fixed gas and flame detection instruments, such as permanently installed gas detection monitoring systems, and flame detectors and open-path infrared gas detectors, as well as replacement components and related services to detect the presence or absence of various gases in the air. Its core product offerings also consist of breathing apparatus products, such as self-contained breathing apparatus, face masks, and respirators; hand-held portable gas detection instruments; industrial head protection products; firefighter helmets and protective apparel; and fall protection equipment comprising confined space equipment, harnesses, lanyards, and self-retracting lifelines, as well as engineered systems.

Spartan Motors

*Now Shyft Group (Tii:SHYF)

Shyft is the leading manufacturer and assembler of specialty commercial vehicles on the North American continent. The company produces a Class A motorhome chassis that can be found on some of the leading RV brands today. A Shyft chassis is engineered to deliver a superior ride and better handling, which gives motorhome owners a smoother more comfortable ride, and better chassis durability over a longer coach lifetime. Additionally, Shyft offers a set of advanced protection systems, which are a set of safety features designed and engineered to make owning and operating a Class A RV safer for drivers, passengers, and other vehicles that share the road. Those features include: outboard airbag deployment sensors, side impact airbags, driver knee airbags, full side curtain airbags, and advanced seatbelts.

Brady Corporation (Tii:BRC)

Founded in 1914, Brady manufactures and supplies identification solutions and workplace safety products to identify and protect premises, products, and people in the United States and internationally. If you've spent much time on a manufacturing floor, chances are, you've seen their products which include safety signs, floor-marking tapes, pipe markers, labeling systems, spill control products, lockout/tagout devices for facility identification and protection, materials and printing systems for product identification, brand protection labeling, and finished product identification.

3M (Tii:MMM)

Doing business for a century as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, the versatile 3M Company has been manufacturing a broad range of products since 1902. You may know 3M as the company behind your favorite adhesive tape, but it is a global leader in the fields of healthcare and worker safety. Particularly relevant to the demands of the modern day, 3M makes a range of face shields, surgical masks, and particulate respirators. Although 3M masks are approved by the Federal Drug Administration to block exhaled microorganisms, its National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health N95-certified respirators go far beyond to offer protection from laser and electrocautery plume under guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These are just a few of the publicly traded companies that are manufacturing key safety equipment and protective gear in the United States. So next time you reach for a face mask or your favorite pair of safety boots, spare a thought for the countless organizations that keep us alive and well.