[3] Best known for its Bakelite Skullgard hard hat, the company’s product line includes gas monitoring and detection instruments, filter-type respirators, gas masks, breathing apparatus used by firefighters, thermal imaging cameras, firefighter helmets, ballistic body armor, military communications systems, a broad range of industrial head and fall protection products, and safety products for Do-It-Yourself consumers.

The company’s competitors include Industrial Scientific Corporation, RAE Systems and Dräger.

MSA has sales and manufacturing operations throughout the world and sells products to customers in more than 140 countries.

It is essentially a canister of potassium superoxide connected to one-way flow valves to an air bag and thence to the user, as in Rebreathers whose absorbent releases oxygen hereinabove.

MSA brand firefighting helmets were notably used by the Los Angeles County Fire Department and were seen regularly on 1970s TV shows.