Transcript

Al
Welcome everybody to Radio Free Tenacity, The Voice of Worker Safety. On today's episode, we're going to sit down with Olof Rylander, Senior Business Developer at Mips, to discuss the latest collaboration between Ergodyne and Mips.

Al
All right Olof, so for those who may not be familiar with Mips, can you kind of explain what your technology is designed to address?

Olof
Yeah, absolutely. So Mips we have a patent low-friction layer that you integrate in helmets. And it can be any type of helmet. So sport helmets as well as military helmets or firefighting helmets and of course industrial safety helmets. And what we try to address is rotational motion of your head and brain. So our brains the way they're constructed.

Olof
And so they are sensitive to rotation. So actually most of the concussions or TBIs and so that recorded are due to rotation of the brain in relation to the skull. That puts strain on the brain, which can cause bleeding and such on the inside. And they're also TBIs would be included. And our system then tried to address that and mitigate that rotation of head and brain.

Al
Got it. So like when people are thinking about head injuries, especially in a work site setting, they're often picturing something striking them directly, either in the side or in the top. And how different is that than from what actually happens out in the real world?

Olof
Yeah. I mean, I think basically all impacts maybe, except for, you know, 10th of a thousand of a percent would be a combination of linear rotation. So helmets today that are on the market that doesn't have Mips in them are I mean really well designed for that linear aspect. That's how they tested in ANSI and such, but they have not been designed to address rotation.

Olof
And that's where Mips comes into play. So you can get both the linear protection that you also need. That's also important to protect for. But as well as the rotation that we try to mitigate.

Al
Got it. So Mips is well known in cycling and other sports. Obviously it's kind of where you got your start right.

Olof
Yeah. Yeah.

Al
So what made industrial safety and worker head protections such an important category for Mips to tackle?

Olof
Yeah, I mean I think we initially we kind of disqualified ourselves from the industrial segment because we were thinking, like many others, that you need to have velocity of yourself in order to have a tangential impact or an angled impact to your head when you fall. But once we start to look at mountaineering and such, we understood that well, you don't really need to have a lot of initial velocity as a person or as the human being.

Olof
The object that strikes you is to one that has the velocity. And of course when that hits you, it will be super lucky if it hits you perfectly linear, it will be again, like I said before, a combination of an angle impact and a linear impact. So, really important to do both. And if you look at a construction site or any worksite out there, I mean the way accident can happen is in a million ways.

Olof
So yes, there are maybe 1 or 2 ways, which is perfectly linear, but the absolute majority would be a combination of that angle and linear impact.

Al
Absolutely. And that connects to something we were kind of talking about before we hit record here. And that's, you know, the industrial safety world maybe catching up to that fact. Right? How are they starting to think differently about head protection than it did even like five years ago?

Olof
Yeah. No, I mean, it's been a rapid change in industrial safety that, people are now willing to invest in head protection. For a long time the $10, $15 maybe $20 hard hat was the go-to hard hat for workers. And now the shift has been made and I think, Mips and Ergodyne plays a little role there.

Olof
But there's been other helmet brands also that, has entered the market and really pushed on type two head protection, which is a better, higher standard, and harder to get certification for. But now, everyone is talking about this type two movement. So more and more verticals, I think construction was maybe the first vertical that got into type two with some strong big construction companies that started to demand type two protection.

Olof
And now more and more verticals is getting into that type two kind of movement maybe you could say. That it's important to protect for and and I think we also get fed with sports. NFL, NHL, and so where TBIs is a problem. And you could see that almost the same impact can happen on a construction site but in a different way of course. You don't have a big guy tackle you, but you get tackled by an object or something instead.

Al
Absolutely. I think that, to your point, has probably been very beneficial to the awareness, is the fact that it is out there with, it’s major sports figures and such, where it's out in the news and people, if they don't quite have a medical understanding of it, they know a high level what the issues are with TBI and how they can occur.

Al
It doesn't take much. Right?

Olof
I see a correlation between the nations that have sports, impact sports, where TBI is on the news, where we can go in and say that Mips we can play a role here. Nations that don't have those impact sports have been harder for us to get in and actually get this problem to be on top of an agenda somewhere, you know.

Al
That's interesting. So there is at least some anecdotal proof that of that fact that we were just talking about. That's that's super interesting. So now our teams have worked together for, for several years, Ergodyne and Mips. And when we came back looking at maybe what you might call like the next evolution of worker head protection, what challenges specifically were we bringing to you guys?

Olof
Yeah, it was interesting. And it was also fun for us. So Justin and team from your team came to us and said, we want to incorporate Mips in our next gen helmet here. But we, I mean, it needs to be more ventilated. So Ergodyne, at least it seems to me, that you guys are trying to address heat stress in a lot of different products that you carry, and so you didn't want to not include that in helmets.

Olof
Of course, it needs to also be a big portion of it. Rotation and protection is important, but heat stress is equally important for you. So, they really challenged us to understand this low friction layer technology. It needs to be there, but it needs to be opened up much more than it currently is. And the product that you had initially, and that others also have on the market, it's more of an off-the-shelf product that we offer for the helmets that have this suspension harness technology.

Olof
And now you guys were the first in the industry that actually invested in your own design of the low-friction layer. And here now we can also then step up and really tailor made it for your helmet. So open up where it doesn't need coverage and have coverage where it really needs to have coverage, but that gives you a completely different opportunity to have it more ventilated.

Olof
So that was the number one thing that we worked with Justin and team to get it as ventilated as possible.

Al
So did it take a handful of iterations to even realize that we weren't just really adapting an existing Mips solution, it was having to become something completely new?

Olof
Yeah, no, it's a new product. And I mean, we also named it as a new product. It's the Evolve Pro that you now have in your new full brim, type two helmet there. And of course, we had some iterations in between us. You guys had some requirements on your end.

Olof
We had some requirements on our end. And then we were passing it between the two teams to find a good product in them that meets the Mips standard which is tough to meet, but also the Ergodyne standard in regards to ventilation. And so that's equally hard to meet.

Al
Yeah. And this kind of collaboration is one of the, the cool parts about working at Ergodyne is we seek out like-minded, super-intelligent partners like Mips, just to help us create something different. And egos aside, that's the point. We want to create the best thing possible to protect workers. And throughout that collaboration, I'm kind of wondering, just out of curiosity, if there was anything that kind of surprised you during the development process, either about the product that eventually came out of it or the partnership in general, wondering if you could maybe shed a little light into the working relationship there with Ergodyne and Mips?

Olof
No, I think again, circle back to what I just said here that it was fun. It was fun that Ergodyne put some pressure on us to to do something new and unique. It's not let's just put Mips in there and now everything is good. They really had their vision on what they wanted to achieve with this helmet.

Olof
They didn't want to go too far away from that narrative that it needs to be addressing heat stress. And so, really putting a challenge to us and not just, okay, let's put Mips in and maybe someone would buy it. It needs to be this way. This is how we want to sell it. And I think that's something we think is fun.

Olof
When you really try to do something more than just add Mips and then check that box and go to market, you know?

Al
Absolutely. So where do you see worker head protection heading over the next five, ten years if you have to take out your crystal ball?


Olof
I mean, I think Ergodyne is on the right path, everyone is speaking about heat stress and with the helmet being more protective, unfortunately, it's a big likelihood that they are a little bit warmer when they do offer more protection. So Ergodyne with their path on really looking at the head protection and having it on top of your agenda to have the workers at least as cool as possible, when they work outside in 90 or 100°F. So, I mean, this will be something that will be addressed more and more, and maybe there will come out innovations on that topic.

Olof
On the head protection side when it comes to the protection, I'm sure they're working on the new ANSI standard that would come out any day now. Chin strap will be more and more common because the helmet doesn't help if it doesn't sit on your head when the impact occur. And a lot of times when you get an impact, you also get a second impact.

Olof
Maybe hit by something and then you fall to the ground and you have a second impact. Again, that helmet needs to sit on your head, so chin strap will be more and more common. Even though I know a lot of workers don't like that. That's just going to happen. Of course, I also believe in electronics coming to the head protection segment more and more. We at Mips invested in Quin Technology.

Olof
That's a sensor technology that can address and recognize impact. It can give you alarms. If you're a lone worker, when you get knocked out, your phone will automatically announce that you are out and help is needed. I think those heat stress sensors, chin straps, all that will be more and more common out there in the next five years or so.

Al
Yeah. It's a brave new world, man. It's exciting for those willing to make the investments in their workers. It's worker safety, it just keeps getting better and better and better. It really is amazing.

Olof
And I think also the weight of the helmets will be challenged. Now you add protection. Typically that means that you also add weight to your head because it protects you better. So I think that will also be the next challenge to get good protection, but keep it as light as possible will be another thing that will be coming up here.

Al
How do we do that? If we could dive into that a little bit more before we wrap up here, like how do we do that? Are we seeing innovation in 3D printing in... how do we get there?

Olof
Most likely you will see things like that. And there was another acquisition that Mips made. We made an acquisition of Koroyd, which is an alternative to some of this impact material. So I mean, here we could maybe play a role again to make type two head protection even lighter. And so in the future.

Olof
So I mean, there are ways we're always curious about new technology. We're constantly looking for new innovations that we can play with and incorporate with to elevate head safety and get the next gen of head protection for workers out there.

Al
That's what we love about you guys. Olof, thank you so much for joining us again. Every conversation we have with you is always enlightening and we really appreciate your thoughts. We appreciate the partnership from Mips.

Olof
And we do the same, Al, it's always wonderful to talk to you. And I love to work with Ergodyne team to elevate head safety all the time.

Al
And there you have it. Great stuff from Olaf and the Mips team. Hey, if you want to learn more about Mips Evolve Pro, head over to Ergodyne.com and search Mips. Other than that, that's all we got for you today. Thanks for watching and listening and stay safe out there people.