SIA Member Profile: Safety Technology International

Security Industry Association (SIA) member Safety Technology International (STI) is a manufacturer of specialty fire, safety and security products. The company is headquartered in Waterford, Michigan, with a global presence including an office in the United Kingdom, a European distribution hub in Ireland and products used in 40 countries across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and beyond.

SIA spoke with Jack LaPan, vice president of growth and strategy at STI, about the company, the security industry and working with SIA.

Tell us the story of your company.

Jack LaPan: Safety Technology International was founded in 1978 when a Detroit, Michigan, school administrator asked Jack Taylor to solve a problem that was disrupting schools across the region: false fire alarms. Jack drew on his background in security systems and built the Original Stopper, a pull station protector designed to prevent accidental and intentional activations. It worked. That single product led to the founding of Pull Station Protectors Inc. in 1980, which became Safety Technology International, the company it is today.

For over 45 years STI has operated as a family-owned American manufacturer headquartered in Waterford, Michigan. What started in a home basement became a global organization trusted by fire protection contractors, electrical contractors, specifiers, facilities managers and distributors in every corner of the world. The founding principle has never changed. Every product we make traces back to a real problem someone needed solved.

What solutions/services does your business offer in the security industry? And what makes your offerings/company unique?

JL: STI designs and distributes life-safety and security solutions that protect essential fire and safety equipment from vandalism, theft, false alarms and accidental damage. Our product portfolio spans fire pull station protectors, smoke detector guards, wire cages, NEMA enclosures, customizable push-button activation systems, extinguisher alarms, protective covers and system record enclosures—more than 3,000 products and SKUs engineered for schools, hospitals, data centers, industrial facilities and commercial buildings worldwide.

What sets STI apart is the combination of in-house manufacturing, rigorous testing and a product development process grounded in real-world field experience. We are the original pull station protector manufacturer, and that legacy of problem-solving precision runs through everything we build. Our Build It Configurator platform allows contractors and specifiers to configure activation solutions to exact project specifications, customization without complexity. We move fast, with industry-leading lead times, and we stand behind every product we ship.

What is something we might not know about your company—or something new you’re doing in security?

JL: Most people in the industry know STI for fire protection products, but our portfolio extends well into the broader security space. Our customizable push-button activation systems now serve fire alarm, access control, lockdown and intrusion detection applications, often integrating multiple functions into a single code-compliant device.

On the manufacturing side, something that surprises people is that STI produces its core polycarbonate products in-house at our Waterford, Michigan, headquarters. That level of vertical integration is uncommon in this industry, and it gives us a degree of quality control and lead time performance that most competitors cannot match. Today STI products are distributed in over 40 countries across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and beyond.

What is your company’s vision, and what are your goals for the security industry?

JL: Our vision is to be the globally recognized leader in life-safety and security solutions, driven by a passion to positively impact people and the world we live in. That vision is not just about market position—it is about being the brand that contractors, specifiers and facilities managers depend on when performance is non-negotiable.

Our goal for the security industry is to continue raising the standard for what protective solutions can and should do—not just protecting devices in isolation, but supporting the broader systems those devices are part of. As security and life safety continue to converge, we believe the industry needs solutions that are engineered for integration, built for real-world conditions and backed by the kind of responsive partnership that makes the entire ecosystem perform better.

What does SIA offer that is most important to you/your company? And what do you most hope to get out of your membership with SIA?

JL: SIA’s value to STI is rooted in connection and credibility. The security industry is relationship driven, and SIA provides access to the network of integrators, specifiers, technology partners and end users who are shaping where the industry goes next. For a manufacturer like STI whose products increasingly serve both life-safety and security applications, being part of that conversation is essential.

What we most hope to get from our membership is deeper engagement with the integrator community and greater visibility for STI’s role in the security space beyond our traditional fire protection identity. We also hope to better understand the problems the industry is still working to solve. STI was founded by a problem solver, and nearly five decades later that is still how we operate. The closer we are to the conversations happening across the industry, the better positioned we are to keep doing that work. SIA’s platforms, events and resources give us a meaningful way to stay in that conversation.

The views and opinions expressed in guest posts and/or profiles are those of the authors or sources and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Security Industry Association.