Global Industry Analysts, Inc. (GIA) announces the release of a comprehensive global report on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) markets. The global market for PPE, which has always included hearing protection device (HPDs) such as earmuffs and ear plugs, is expected to reach US $20.5 billion by 2018, primarily driven by factors such as growing employment rates in developing countries, increasing emphasis placed by organizations on worker health/safety issues, stricter government legislations and stringent Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) mandates, according to a new global report issued by GIA.

Hearing protection is one area of PPE that will especially benefit from the explosive growth in infrastructure, commercial and residential construction in the huge Asia-Pacific market, which includes booming China. Construction sites are notorious for impact noise and overall high noise levels. Increasing numbers of HPDs include communications capabilities for high noise environments where team work is important, such as construction.

Technology developments will continue to drive demand for PPE since at the core, PPE has and will continue to remain functionality and performance driven products. The rising consumer emphasis on style, fashion, design and aesthetic appeal are all apparent in today’s hearing protection product lines, recently on display at the National Safety Congress and Expo  in Atlanta.

Infusion of fashion elements is forecast to be the highest in PPE product categories like earmuffs, safety goggles, safety shoes, etc., which are witnessing an explosion of colors, designs and styles. A key advantage of fashionably designed protective wear is higher compliance with regard to PPE use among workers. Colorful HPDs make monitoring compliance easy for safety managers.

A staggering array of products and solutions are now being offered with an option for customization wherever required. This has been true in the past several years with hearing protection custom fitting.

As stated by the new market research report on Personal Protective Equipment,the United States remains the largest regional market worldwide. Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing market with dollar sales waxing at a CAGR of about 4.6% over the analysis period. Protective Glovesrepresents the largest product segment, while Respiratory Protection Equipmentis the fastest growing segment during the analysis period.

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (GIA)is a leading publisher of off-the-shelf market research. Founded in 1987, the company currently employs over 800 people worldwide. Annually, GIA publishes more than 1300 full-scale research reports and analyzes 40,000+ market and technology trends while monitoring more than 126,000 Companies worldwide. Serving over 9500 clients in 27 countries, GIA is recognized today, as one of the world's largest and reputed market research firms.