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Income Taxes - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]
Effective income tax rate	62.70%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateContinuingOperations	36.40%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateContinuingOperations
Effective income tax rate (excluding European segment reorganization tax costs)	31.70%msa_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateReconciliationExcludingEuropeanSegmentTaxReorganizationCostsPercent
U.S. federal income tax rate	35.00%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateReconciliationAtFederalStatutoryIncomeTaxRate	35.00%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateReconciliationAtFederalStatutoryIncomeTaxRate
Unrecognized tax benefits	$ 15.0us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits
Recognized tax benefits	5.2msa_RecognizedTaxBenefits
Accrued interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions	1.0us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestAccrued
European Segment
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]
Exit taxes related to European reorganization	$ 7.6msa_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateReconciliationBusinessExitTaxesForeignAmount / us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis = msa_EuropeanSegmentMember

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- Definition

Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation, Business Exit Taxes, Foreign, Amount

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Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation, Excluding European Segment Tax Reorganization Costs, Percent

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Recognized Tax Benefits

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- Definition

Percentage of current income tax expense (benefit) and deferred income tax expense (benefit) pertaining to continuing operations.

+ References

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-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

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Percentage of domestic federal statutory tax rate applicable to pretax income (loss).

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Amount of unrecognized tax benefits pertaining to uncertain tax positions taken in tax returns.

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Amount accrued for interest on an underpayment of income taxes and penalties related to a tax position claimed or expected to be claimed in the tax return.

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