About MSA Safety

MSA Safety Incorporated (MSA) operates as the global leader in advanced safety products, technology and solutions. The company’s comprehensive product line, which is governed by rigorous safety standards across highly regulated industries, is used to protect workers and facility infrastructures around the world in a broad range of markets, including fire service, energy, utility, construction and industrial manufacturing applications, as well as heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (‘HVAC-R’). The company’s product portfolio includes firefighter safety gear where core products include self-contained breathing apparatus (‘SCBA’), protective apparel and helmets; detection where core products include fixed gas and flame detection (‘FGFD’) systems and portable gas detection instruments; and industrial personal protective equipment (‘PPE’) where core products include industrial head protection and fall protection devices. The company has business operations in more than 40 international locations. In 2023, approximately one-half of the company’s net sales were made by operations located outside the United States. The company’s leading market positions across various products in its portfolio are supported and enabled by a strong commitment to investing in new product development that continually raises the bar for safety equipment performance, all while upholding an unwavering commitment to integrity. The company dedicates significant resources to research and development, which allows the company to produce innovative safety products that are often first to market and usually protected by intellectual property. The company’s global product development teams include cross-functional associates throughout the company, including research and development, marketing, sales, operations and quality management. The company’s engineers and technical associates work closely with the safety industry’s leading standards-setting groups and trade associations to develop industry specific product standards and to anticipate their impact on the company’s product line. The company leverages the MSA Business System (‘MBS’) to develop and introduce safety solutions, secure new business opportunities, and operate with greater efficiency and purpose. Segments The company tailors its product offerings and distribution strategy to satisfy distinct customer preferences that vary across geographic regions. To best serve these customer preferences, the company has organized its business into four geographic operating segments that are aggregated into three reportable segments: Americas, International and Corporate. Products The company designs, manufactures, and sells a comprehensive line of safety products and solutions to protect workers and facility infrastructures around the world. The company’s products protect people and critical infrastructure against a wide variety of hazardous or life-threatening situations. The following is a brief description of each of the company’s product categories: Core Products: MSA's corporate strategy includes a focus on providing customers a number of core products, where the company has leading market positions and a distinct competitive advantage. Core products, as mentioned above, include breathing apparatus where SCBA is the principal product, firefighter helmets and protective apparel, FGFD, portable gas detection instruments, industrial head protection products and fall protection devices. The following is a brief description of the company’s core product offerings within each of its Firefighter Safety, Detection and Industrial PPE portfolios: Firefighter Safety Breathing Apparatus Products. The company’s primary breathing apparatus product is the SCBA. SCBA are used by first responders, manufacturing and process industry plant workers and others entering an environment deemed immediately dangerous to life and health. The SCBA functions together with various MSA cloud-based software modules and proprietary accessories to create a complete and customizable solution for the company’s customers. The company’s primary breathing apparatus product in the Americas segment, the MSA G1 SCBA, is a platform that offers many differentiated features. With new hardware and software upgrades always under development, this platform continues to evolve to meet the company’s customers’ needs. The MSA M1 SCBA, which is the company’s primary breathing apparatus product in the International segment, represents the most advanced and ergonomic SCBA the company has launched in the International markets. The ‘M’ stands for modular, which is a critical design element that allows this platform to meet the many varied needs of customers around the world. The company sells breathing apparatus across both the Americas and International segments. Firefighter Helmets and Protective Apparel. The company offers a complete line of fire helmets that includes its Cairns and Gallet helmet brands. The company’s Cairns helmets are primarily used by firefighters in North America while the Gallet helmets are primarily used by firefighters across the company’s International segment. Globe Holding Company, LLC (‘Globe’) and B T Q Limited (‘Bristol Uniforms’), two of the company’s subsidiaries, are both leading innovators and providers of firefighter turnout gear and boots. Detection FGFD Systems. The company’s permanently installed FGFD systems are used in energy and utility applications, HVAC-R and general industrial production facilities to detect the presence or absence of various gases in the air. Typical applications of these systems include the detection of an oxygen deficiency in confined spaces or the presence of combustible or toxic gases. The FGFD product line generates a meaningful portion of overall revenue from recurring business, including replacement components and related service. The company sells these products in both its Americas and International segments. Key products include: Fixed Gas Detection Monitoring Systems. This product line is used to monitor for combustible and toxic gases and oxygen deficiency in virtually any application where continuous monitoring is required. The company’s systems are used for gas detection in energy, pulp and paper, wastewater, refrigerant monitoring, pharmaceutical production and general industrial applications. One of the company’s flagship products is the UltimaX5000 and S5000 gas monitors which enhances facility and worker safety while lowering overall cost of ownership for the company’s customers through differentiated sensor technology. These systems utilize a wide array of sensor technologies, including electrochemical, catalytic, infrared, and ultrasonic. Flame Detectors and Open-Path Infrared Gas Detectors. These instruments are used for plant-wide monitoring of toxic gases and for detecting the presence of flames. These systems use infrared optics to detect potentially hazardous conditions across long distances, making them suitable for use in applications, such as processing industries, storage vessels and HVAC ducts. In 2021, MSA acquired Bacharach, Inc. and its affiliated companies (‘Bacharach’), a leader in gas detection technologies used in the HVAC-R markets. Bacharach’s advanced instrumentation technologies help protect lives and the environment, while also increasing operational efficiency for its diversified customer base. Bacharach's portfolio of gas detection and analysis products are used to detect, measure and analyze leaks of various gases that are commonly found in both commercial and industrial settings. Bacharach has strong expertise in the refrigerant leak detection market with customers in the HVAC-R, food retail, automotive, commercial and industrial refrigeration, and military markets. Portable Gas Detection Instruments. The company’s hand-held portable gas detection instruments are used to detect the presence or absence of various gases in the air. The product line is used by energy, utility, general industrial workers, as well as first responders or anyone working in a confined space environment. Typical applications of these instruments include the detection of an oxygen deficiency in confined spaces or the presence of combustible or toxic gases. The company’s single- and multi-gas detectors provide portable solutions for detecting the presence of oxygen, combustible gases and various toxic gases, including hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, ammonia and chlorine, either singularly or up to six gases at once. The company’s ALTAIR 2X, ALTAIR 4XR and ALTAIR 5X Multigas Detectors, with the company’s internally developed XCell sensor technology, provide faster response times and unsurpassed durability. The company’s newest multigas detector, the ALTAIR io 4, is a portable gas detection wearable designed with fully integrated connectivity for real-time visibility across worksites. The company sells portable gas detection instruments in both its Americas and International segments. MSA also leverages proprietary Internet of Things solutions and wireless solutions to connect certain MSA hardware products directly to the company’s cloud offering (‘MSA Grid’). MSA Grid offers solutions for both fleet management and live monitoring while interfacing directly with the breadth of available MSA hardware products. Through this cloud technology, MSA provides services that enhance worker safety and accountability through additional transparency that does not normally exist in industrial settings. Industrial PPE Industrial Head Protection. The company offers a complete line of industrial head protection and accessories that includes the iconic V-Gard helmet brand, a bellwether product in MSA's portfolio for over 50 years. The company offers customers a wide range of color choices and the company is a leader in the application of customized logos. The company recently introduced the V-Gard C1 hard hat with patent-pending ReflectIR thermal barrier technology, which helps to reduce temperatures inside the hard hat for a cooling effect to the wearer. The company’s industrial head protection products have a wide user base, including energy, utility, non-residential construction and industrial workers. Fall Protection. The company’s broad line of fall protection equipment includes harnesses, lanyards, self-retracting lifelines, engineered systems and confined space equipment. Fall protection equipment is used by workers in the construction, energy, utilities and aerospace industries, as well as general industrial applications and anyone working from height in both the company’s Americas and International segments. MSA’s V-Series fall protection equipment has transformed the company’s harness and self-retracting lanyard portfolio, with over 50 fall protection products launched over the past several years. Additionally, the company recently launched a patent-pending Personal Fall Limiter with a smart hook connector that uses radio-frequency identification (‘RFID’) technology to alert wearers when they are not secured to an anchorage point. MSA+. The company’s safety solutions platform that integrates safety hardware technology, cloud software solutions and safety services was launched in 2022. MSA+ offerings span across the company’s portfolio to include certain products across Firefighter Safety, Detection and Industrial PPE offerings. By integrating these products with the company’s cloud services and coupling them with subscription pricing, MSA improves access to the company’s solutions and facilitates the digital transformation of safety programs while further accelerating the company’s recurring revenue business. Non-core Products. MSA maintains a portfolio of non-core products. Non-core products reinforce and extend the core offerings, drawing upon the company’s customer relationships, distribution channels, geographical presence and technical experience. These products are complementary to the core offerings and sometimes reflect more episodic or contract-driven growth patterns. Key non-core products include air-purifying respirators, eye and face protection, ballistic helmets and gas masks. Customers The company’s customers generally fall into two categories: distributors and end-users. In the company’s Americas segment, the majority of its sales are made through distribution. In the company’s International segment, sales are made through both indirect and direct sales channels. Sales and Distribution The company’s sales and distribution team consists of marketing, field sales and customer service organizations. In most geographic areas, the company’s field sales organizations work jointly with select distributors to call on end-users and educate them about hazards, exposure limits, safety requirements and product applications, as well as the specific performance attributes of the company’s products. In areas where the company uses indirect selling, the company promotes, distributes and services its products to general industry through authorized national, regional and local distributors. The company distributes fire service products primarily through specially trained local and regional distributors who provide advanced training and service capabilities to volunteer and paid municipal fire departments. Because of the company’s broad and diverse product line and the company’s desire to reach as many markets and market segments as possible, the company has over 2,100 authorized distributor locations worldwide. Patents and Intellectual Property Although the company’s intellectual property plays an important role in maintaining the company’s competitive position in a number of markets that the company serves, no single patent, or patent application, trademark or license is, in the company’s opinion, of such value to the company that its business would be materially affected by the expiration or termination thereof, other than the ‘MSA’ trademark. The company’s patents expire at various times in the future not exceeding 20 years. Seasonality During periods of economic expansion or contraction and following significant catastrophes, the company’s sales by quarter have varied. Government-related sales tend to increase in the fourth quarter. Americas segment sales tend to be strong during the energy sector's turnaround seasons late in the first quarter, early in the second quarter and then again at the end of the third quarter (year ended December 2023) and beginning of the fourth quarter. International segment sales are typically weaker for the Europe region in the summer holiday months of July and August. Research and Development The company’s research and development expenses were $68.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. History MSA Safety Incorporated was founded in 1914.