OSPE - The Voice - Winter 2019 - 22

ADVOCACY IN ACTION

Workplace Safety Clothing:
WHERE HIJAB MEETS HARDHAT
Written by Jenan Abderrahman, EIT, OSPE Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee Member
The Ministry of Labour outlines workplace rights and offers tips for
staying safe at work. Wearing the right gear and receiving adequate
training are at the top of the list. In the engineering profession there
are countless industrial environments and sites that engineers could
potentially visit. Being safe and avoiding unwanted situations means
asking the right questions: what are the hazards in this environment?
What personal protective equipment (PPE) does the site require?
For many, adhering to PPE requirements is simple, as these standards
are thoroughly outlined and shared. However, Canada has a growing
population of diverse ethnic, racial, and religious groups, with different
cultures and traditions which may impact their dress code in the
workplace. And so, the question becomes, have PPE requirements
been reviewed to consider the experiences of these individuals in the
workplace?

When I graduated from university and started working
in services engineering for an automation company,
I had to become familiar with different safety clothes
and standards based on different industries. From
sterile pharmaceutical plants to dusty steel mills, each
site required slightly different PPE.
As a hijabi engineer, I quickly learned that adhering to
PPE requirements would take some additional effort
for me. For those that aren't familiar, hijab is the
Arabic word for barrier or partition, it is a principle
of modesty in Islam and requires Muslim women to
cover everything except their hands, face and feet in
loose non see-through garments ("Religion: Islam"
2009). There are varying interpretations on modesty.
Personally, wearing my interpretation of a head scarf
to an industrial plant under a hard hat was a lot for me
to wrap my head around; no pun intended.
Prior to my first site visit, I tried many styles under
my hard hat, because it wasn't only about being safe, I
also wanted to feel comfortable and confident. Given
that it was my first time going to an industrial plant, I
wanted to make a positive first impression, and I knew
I would likely be the only hijabi, potentially the only
Muslim, and possibly the only woman.
For engineers of all ethnicities, cultures and religions,
the goal is to be comfortable and confident in
environments and situations where you may be the
only visible minority, and be as safe as possible in
the process. As a profession, we are working to create
more diverse and inclusive workplaces for everyone.
Part of this effort must include providing engineers
like myself with options and guidelines that do not
force us to sacrifice our religious beliefs to adhere to
workplace safety. Without this, engineers from diverse
religious and cultural backgrounds, will continue to
face the added burden of having to figure out how
to adequately dress in the workplace without any
guidance.

22

THE VOICE

Winter 2020
OSPE - The Voice - Winter 2019

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