3M.

About 3M

3M was founded in 1902 in Two Harbors, Minnesota, originally as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. The early years were difficult. The corundum deposit the founders had staked the business on turned out to be commercially worthless, but the company pivoted to sandpaper manufacturing and never looked back. Over the following century it grew into one of the largest and most diverse manufacturing businesses in the world, generating more than 60,000 products across industries from healthcare and electronics to construction and personal safety.

3M’s safety division is the part of the business most relevant to industrial and construction customers in the UK. It covers respiratory protection, hearing conservation, eye and face protection, fall protection and protective clothing, and within each of those categories the depth of the range is considerable. 3M don’t just make one type of respirator; they make dozens of configurations across disposable, half-face and full-face designs to suit different contaminants, exposure levels and working environments.

The Speedglas welding helmet range, now part of 3M following the acquisition of the Swedish original equipment maker, is the professional benchmark for auto-darkening welding protection. The Peltor brand, also part of 3M, is the standard for hearing protection in industrial and communications-critical environments worldwide.

Products We Can Supply from 3M

Disposable respirators — the 3M 8000 series is one of the most widely used disposable respirator ranges in the world. FFP1, FFP2 and FFP3 ratings to EN 149:2001+A1:2009, covering dust, mists and fumes. The 8810 and 8812 FFP2 models are workhorses in construction and light industrial environments, while the 8835 and 8835+ FFP3 models are specified where higher protection factors are required, including asbestos work and pharmaceutical environments.

Half-face and full-face respirators — the 3M 6000 and 7000 series reusable respirator systems accept interchangeable cartridges and filters for different hazard types, including organic vapours, acid gases, particulates and combinations of these. The 6000 series is the entry-level professional option, while the 7000 series offers a more secure face seal and is typically specified in higher-risk environments. The FF-400 full-face respirator is used where eye and face protection is needed alongside respiratory protection.

Speedglas welding helmets — the 9100 and 9100X series are the current professional standard, with auto-darkening filters that switch quickly enough to protect in MIG, TIG, MMA and plasma cutting applications. Side windows, grinding mode and external controls are features that matter in a busy welding environment. The Speedglas name is trusted at every level, from fabrication workshops to aerospace manufacturing.

3M Peltor hearing protection — earmuffs, ear defenders and electronic hearing protectors covering a wide range of noise attenuation levels. The Peltor Optime series (I, II and III) offers rated SNR values from 27 to 35 dB, suitable for most industrial noise environments. Electronic models such as the Peltor WS Alert and SportTac let ambient sound be heard normally while automatically attenuating harmful peaks.

Safety eyewear — the 3M SecureFit, Virtua and Solus ranges cover everyday industrial eye protection to EN 166 standard. The SecureFit 400 and 600 series use a pressure diffusion temple design that keeps a comfortable fit across different face shapes without adjustment, which is worth considering when you are equipping a team.

Protective clothing and tapes — 3M disposable coveralls including the 4510 and 4515 series for particulate protection, Scotch and Scotchlite reflective and marking tapes widely used in construction and highway maintenance, and a broad range of surface preparation and masking products for industrial finishing applications.

Industries

3M safety products are used across construction, manufacturing, oil and gas, chemical processing, pharmaceutical production, food processing, utilities, water treatment, rail, aerospace, automotive manufacturing, metal fabrication, mining and quarrying, and facilities management. Wherever workers are exposed to dust, fumes, noise, chemical vapours or physical impact hazards, there is usually a 3M product specified for the job.