Download PDF: Issue 83 - New Zealand Fire Service

Pacific helmets
behind the brim
New Zealand firefighters
can be confident their
helmets will survive a
hefty bash with a hunk
of wood, a strike by a jet
propelled ball bearing or
being crushed between
a rock and a hard place.
They’ll also withstand flame and heat and
electric shocks.
‘Safety without compromise’ is the motto
of Pacific Helmets – the makers of the
New Zealand Fire Service firefighter’s
helmet. And they put helmets coming off
the production line through frequent
random spot testing to make sure of it.
The Whanganui manufacturer is a world
leader. It supplies helmets to emergency
services in over 80 countries and, as a
result, has the biggest range in the world.
It employs around 75 local people and
almost all the raw materials used in the
manufacturing process are locally sourced.
6 / Fire+Rescue / September 2012
Pacific Helmets has supplied helmets to
NZFS since 1985 and will shortly start
production on a new European style
helmet which will serve as both a fire and
rescue helmet.
The business’s owner and Managing
Director is David Bennett. David started
out working for Suzuki in the 1970s when
they were manufacturing motorbike
helmets. He started as finance manager,
moved up to general manager and then
bought the company in 1982, changing the
name to Pacific Helmets.
Business Booms
The turning point for the company came in
the early 1990s when the new compulsory
cycle helmet legislation was introduced.
“We took on extra staff and had around
100 people working seven days a week
making thousands of helmets a month. In
the last month before the cycle helmet law
came into force we made 29,000 of a total
exceeding 200,000 for 12 months.
However, within a short time, competition
from cheaper cycle helmet imports
encouraged the company to shift its focus
onto making only helmets for emergency
services. “We had won a tender with the
Fire Service in 1985 and decided to
concentrate on that side of the business.”
Then in 1990 the company sold new fire
helmets to the London Fire Brigade, and
this opened the way to market the designs
internationally, especially in Europe.
David’s son, Sales and Marketing Director
Grant Bennett, said “In the next 12 months
we expect to manufacture around 90,000
helmets and supply to new distributors
throughout the world.”
He said there are huge differences in the
international helmet designs and
specifications. For instance, United States
firefighters have been wearing the same
helmet design for generations although
there have been significant improvements
to the resilience of the materials used
to make them. The Japanese helmet has
a completely different standard as their
firefighters rarely enter a building that is
on fire.
new standard
The new NZFS helmet is being made to the
newly adopted Australia/New Zealand
standard for structure firefighting helmets.
This standard combines the best
features of both the European and US
standards but is focused more on
Australian/New Zealand conditions and
operational philosophies.
“The purpose was to improve safety and
encourage firefighters to wear the helmet
inside fire appliances,” said David.
Most of the helmets made by Pacific
Helmets are made of Kevlar and fibre glass
around a plastic injection moulded liner.