MSC Industrial Direct’s latest Safety Products Catalog launch is part of its strategy to further penetrate existing customer accounts, according to Erik Gershwind, MSC’s senior vice president of product management, marketing and strategy.

The interest in safety products has been building in our customer base for the past few years,”Gershwind said. “We definitely saw a demarcation point after 9/11. Our customer base has a heightened sense of awareness of keeping the workplace safe and protecting the well-being of their employees.”

Gershwind said that penetration of existing accounts was a key growth strategy for the industrial distributor, based in Melville, NY. The company is also working to sell more MRO and safety products to customers acquired when it bought J&L …