MSA

Msa Safety Inc

A maker of safety gear for hazardous workplaces, MSA produces the V-Gard hard hats seen on construction sites and the Gallet helmets worn by firefighters, along with gas detectors and breathing apparatus. It was founded in 1914 as the Mine Safety Appliances Company in Pittsburgh, born from a 1912 West Virginia coal-mine explosion that killed more than eighty miners. The founders teamed up with Thomas Edison to build a safer electric cap lamp for miners — and the company's initials still echo that mining heritage.