Protective clothing

Protective gloves are often an integral part of the required personal protection kitbox. Gloves can offer a far reaching level of hazard protection from thermal, chemical and impact to bio-hazard and general household liquids.

Many gloves are designed to protect against one specific type of hazard. Firefighters gloves are multi hazard resistant including additional protection against upper hand impact and the inclusion of high visibility strips. Add to this the watertight anti-slip capacity and the firefighters gloves offer protection against almost any hazard.

Glove protection standards

BS EN 659: 2003
Protective gloves - Firefighters
BS EN 374-1: 2003
Protective gloves - chemicals & micro organisms
BS EN 374-2: 2003
Protective gloves - micro organisms
BS EN 374-3: 2003
Protective gloves - chemical permeation
BS EN 388: 2003
Protective gloves - mechanical risks
BS EN 407: 2004
Protective gloves - heat and fire
BS EN 420: 2003
Gloves - general requirements
BS EN 511: 2006
Protective gloves - cold

Footwear

The correct safety footwear whether it be for a construction worker, a motorcyclist or a fireman, is vital to ensure that feet are adequately protected. Not only is protection afforded against potential hazards of utmost importance, but functionality, comfort and durability too.

Some types of footwear is deemed a PPE Complex category. In addition to satisfying the initial requirements of the directive, the manufacturer must also demonstrate annually to a Notified Body that the product continues to comply with the requirements of the standard it was initially tested against.

BS EN 15090:2006
Footwear for firefighters
BS EN ISO 20345:2004
Safety footwear
BS EN ISO 20346:2004
Personal protective equipment. Protective footwear
BS EN ISO 20347:2004
Occupational footwear

High Visibility Clothing

The standard for high visibility requires that clothing must provide visibility of the user in a hazardous situation under any light conditions by day, and under illumination by vehicle headlights in the dark (24hr visibility). This is especially the case for incidents on or near roads or motorways.

The tests for garments and materials within the standard include:

Material tests:

• Colour - chromaticity and luminance
• Colour fastness and physical tests
• Dimensional stability and breathability / waterproof properties

Garment tests:

• Design assessment
• Minimum areas of material

Protective clothing is used in a wide variety of hazard scenarios, with a range of standards designed to assess products offering suit protection against extremes of temperature or chemical
exposure to splash proof aprons.

All protective clothing will only remain effective if properly maintained and cleaned in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. Contamination from dust and toxins can increase
the risk of the protective suit becoming susceptible to ignition from naked flames.

As with all protective equipment, protective clothing will only perform within specified parameters and it is important that all users are familiar with the limitations of the equipment.

In the case of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) protection, the wearer is sealed in a high strength material suit, all encapsulated, and is fed clean air for breathing. The pressure within the suit is kept positive and the exhaled air is removed via exhalation valve(s) creating a positive pressure within the suit to prevent ingress of the contaminant.  This removes the possibility of air re-circulating within the system.

The containment suits can also be used with powered or supplied air filtering devices relative to the given situation.