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Severn Trent now has a PPE headscarf available, after one of its colleagues designed and created a specific headscarf that’s inclusive, and specific for women who chose to cover their heads.

The company, that supplies water and waste services to over 8 million customers across the Midlands, supported water quality advisor Aminah Shafiq, when she noticed there was no headscarf PPE option, meaning she felt there was nothing practical for her to wear when visiting operational sites.

Aminah from Birmingham, who designed the PPE prototype, hopes that the headscarf will help encourage more Muslim women to enter the world of engineering as it’s now rolled out and available to everyone in the business.

Aminah Shafiq, senior water quality advisor at Severn Trent said: “As part of my role I’m often asked to go to many of our operational sites, and as a Muslim woman I always found this to be tricky when it came to covering my head and the challenges it could bring.

“Sometimes there can be excess material from my headscarf that I would worry could get caught, or could mean my helmet doesn’t always fit properly – I didn’t want my choice of covering my head to mean I couldn’t feel safe or comfortable, so with the full support of Severn Trent, I wanted to change that, and designed our first PPE specific headscarf.”

Aminah when designing the prototype took inspiration from athletic headscarves as they have less material and have a snug fit, perfect for wearing under helmets. 

When the prototype was created, it was tested with others across the business who would benefit from wearing one where it was met with huge positivity. 

The light, cool material means its comfortable throughout the day, and the fit means it doesn’t need to be adjusted as often while still appropriately covering hair. 

“I really hope this headscarf will help pave the way for more Muslim women embarking on an engineering career, “adds Aminah. “I’m really proud that now any other Muslim women like myself, who may have felt anxious about taking on a career in the engineering industry where PPE is required, will now have something comfortable, safe and inclusive to wear when working in any operational role.” 

Severn Trent has added the headscarf to it’s PPE catalogue, making the product available to its 7,000 plus workforce to have as part of their usual PPE kit.