Gateway Safety
Cleveland's above-the-shoulders PPE maker, family-owned since 1944 — and an unintentional lesson in why a standard number on an about page is worth less than the same number on a product page.
Howard Leight
Hearing protection under Honeywell since 2010 — where the number on the packet is a laboratory result and the protection you actually get depends on the fit.
Howard S. Leight started the business in the early 1970s; the company later became Sperian, and Honeywell completed its acquisition of Sperian Protection in autumn 2010 for around $1.4 billion including debt. The brand now sits inside Honeywell's PPE range and is one of the most common names on an industrial hearing-protection shelf. The single most useful thing to understand before buying is what the NRR figure means: it is a laboratory-derived rating for a specific model, actual protection depends on fit, selection and training, and Honeywell's own manuals warn that NRR may not predict protection against impulse noise such as gunfire.
- 2010Honeywell completes the acquisition of Sperian Protection
- ~$1.4bnReported deal value including debt
- NRR is per modelA lab-derived rating — real protection depends on fit and selection
What we'd reach for
- Max foam earplugsThe bell-shaped disposable plug that is probably the most-issued piece of PPE in American industry. Honeywell lists 33 dB NRR on some Max USA variants — check the packet for the model you are buying.
- Laser LiteThe two-tone plug, chosen as much for being visible in a supervisor's spot check as for comfort.
- Leightning earmuffsThe passive muff range, for people who take protection on and off repeatedly rather than wearing it all shift.
- Impact SportElectronic muffs that amplify quiet sound and cut loud — the range and hunting side of the brand.
- QuietBandThe banded plug, for intermittent noise where a muff is too much.
- Fit-testing and hygiene kitsThe unglamorous half. Replacement pads and verified fit are what turn a rating into actual protection.
More in Work at height
All brands →The nearest neighbors on the shelf — same categories first, same department after that.
Radians
Memphis PPE house with its own eyewear, hearing and glove lines sitting beside licensed DEWALT and Ducks Unlimited shelves — and two of its own about pages giving two different ages and no founding year.
Sellstrom
Illinois eye, face and welding protection dating to 1923 — now a SureWerx brand filed under Jackson Safety, with its own century-old domain redirecting to a sibling's site.
Beal
Vienne, France, 1951 — the family rope-maker whose Unicore bond means a cut sheath doesn't have to mean a lost rope.