Read and learn
Lessons from live PPE work.
Field Notes are things I notice along the way, written down as they come to me. Guides are plain-English reference. Insights are longer pieces on how the work is actually done. I change anything that could identify someone, unless it is already public.
Written by Glen Mascall, founder of Trace.
Every piece, newest first.
Insight, part 1 of 3 15 September 2026
The second brain: where a compliance team’s knowledge lives
Part 1 of three. What goes into a compliance knowledge system, and why its gaps matter most.
Field Note 9 September 2026
They paid to certify the jacket and sold the armour.
The armour was certified by somebody else. The garment took six months, and it is the part left off the page.
Field Note 4 September 2026
The signature arrives before the training does.
The product, then a live technical file, then the training. In that order, and the requirements come last.
Field Note 2 September 2026
A certification project moves at the speed of its slowest answer.
The slowest thing in a certification project is rarely the testing. It's the question nobody was ever assigned to answer.
Field Note 28 August 2026
Testing is a snapshot, not a status.
A test report describes one exact construction, on one exact day. Change a layer after that and you do not have a slightly different product. You have an untested one.
Guide Updated 8 September 2026
What a test report tells you
How to read a PPE test report for what it really proves: one sample, named clauses, one day, plus the accreditation and version checks brands miss.
Guide Updated 8 September 2026
Who is responsible for a piece of PPE once it's on the market?
Testing and certification involve several parties, but responsibility for PPE on the market does not divide the way people assume. Here is who owns what.
Guide Updated 8 September 2026
Is my product PPE? How to tell, and why it matters
How to tell whether a product is PPE, which products the Regulation excludes, and why the category you land in decides the whole route to market.
Nothing of that kind yet.
Read somethingthat sounds like your problem?
Tell me what you are working on. A product, a range, a report you do not trust. Two or three sentences is plenty. If Trace is not the right fit, I will say so.
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