Capital Safety is a manufacturer of fall protection, confined space, and rescue equipment for oil and gas, construction, utilities, wind energy, transportation, telecommunication, mining, and general industriesi. The company’s fall protection products are sold throughout the worldii. In addition to manufacturing, Capital Safety also provides in-house and on-site fall protection and rescue training servicesiii. It partners with insurance providers to hold 4-hour to 5-day safety training classesiv.
In 2006, Capital Safety acquired Unique Concepts Ltd., a confined space safety equipment brandviii. In 2007, Arle Capital acquired Capital Safetyix. In 2010, Capital Safety acquired TAG Safety Ltd (UK) and the Technical Institute of Training in Height (ITFH) of Francex. In January 2011, Capital Safety formed its Global Wind Energy team with wind-energy workers from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia and Australiaxi. In June 2011, Capital Safety opened a wind turbine training structurexii, located in Red Wing, Minnesota. Capital Safety also has a Wind Turbine training structure in Greenfield UK, near Manchester. In July 2011, Capital Safety acquired Latin America-based personal protection equipment company Arsegxiii. In March 2011, Capital Safety acquired Uniline Safety Systemsxiv. In January 2012, KKR & Co www.kkr.com. acquired Capital Safety for $1.1 billionxv. Stephen Oswald became Chief Executive Officer in March 2012xvi. On June 23, 2015, 3M www.3m.com announced a deal to acquire Capital Safety for $1.8 billion.[2]
The Capital Safety brands—including DBI-SALA® and Protecta®—products, and people are now a part of 3M Fall Protection.[3]
Capital Safety is headquartered in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota, with primary manufacturing and training facilities in Red Wing, Minnesota. It operates manufacturing, distribution and training facilities worldwidexvii. In the United States, distribution centers are located in Minnesota, southern California, Texas and Connecticutxviii. The wind turbine training structure is in Red Wing, MN and opened in June 2011xix. It also has a 7,000 square-foot training facility in Houston, Texas which includes competent person, authorized person, qualified person, program administrator, rescue, tower climber, and confined space coursesxx. Capital Safety has an international training center with telecommunications towers, masts and confined space rescue areas in Saddleworth, Manchesterxxi.