Fire And Flame For Your Safety
Firefighter turnout gear, heat protection suits and protective suits for welders act as vital insurance for the life and safety of their users. To ensure protection, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) manufacturers and users must adhere to relevant legal regulations and testing requirements as well as numerous functional requirements. Hohenstein, a global leader in textile testing and research, has long been concerned with quality standards for fire and heat resistant protective clothing, including test parameters and legal requirements, as well as optimum product performance and high wear comfort.

Protection


Depending on the hazard potential, the European market distinguishes between three categories of PPE:

● PPE category I – minor risks – examples include protective clothing against rain or gloves for gardening
● PPE category II – neither category I nor category III – examples include high visibility clothing or protective gloves against mechanical risks
● PPE Category III – high/fatal risks – examples include protective clothing for firefighters and welders or chemical protective clothing




The basis for developing PPE is always a hazard analysis. This involves investigating and evaluating the probability of occurrence of hazardous situations in relation to the severity of possible effects to determine the level of protection required. For example, when assessing the hazard situation for firefighters – the wide range of operations have different hazards, making it difficult to describe requirements precisely. In Europe, protective clothing for firefighters must always have an EC type examination certificate from an approved notified body (see below). Since this is category 3 (highest protection level) protective clothing, annual monitoring is required. The manufacturer usually implements an appropriate quality assurance system. The sale, marketing and use of personal protective equipment in the European market is subject to mandatory CE marking and the conditions attached to it.

Notified body – legal requirement


European law requires that PPE certification be conducted by a notified body. As an accredited testing laboratory and notified body (Notified Body 0555) for personal protective equipment in accordance with the EU Regulation (EU 2016/425), Hohenstein guarantees the safety and conformity of PPE.

The advantages for customers are obvious:

● Assured legal compliance in the EU
● Certificate from an accredited testing and certification notified body, with international recognition, that confirms the safety and suitability of your product
● Reduced liability risk and the complaint probability through documented testing and standards
● Increased safety and quality of products with strong arguments for marketing

If a manufacturer makes any changes to PPE that has already been certified, the notified body responsible for certification must be informed. The notified body then decides whether the protection performance will still be effective after the changes or whether the product no longer meets the health and safety requirements.

Construction of protective clothing against heat and flame


According to the European manufacturing and testing description, firefighters’ protective clothing can be constructed in different ways. Usually the structure consists of an upper fabric, a moisture barrier, an element for thermal insulation and an inner lining. Textile insulation layers can be separate or directly connected to the wetness barrier, as long as the inside is always formed by a lining material. Thermal insulation can also be provided by spacer technology, i.e., spacers that ensure air flow. Spacers must be made of flame-retardant materials.

Heat protective clothing for industrial workers protects against brief contact with flames and/or radiant heat, large molten metal splashes or combinations thereof. Heat and fire protection clothing consists of special flame retardant or non-flammable fibres, such as glass, aramids or polyimides or of flameretardant cotton or wool fabrics. An aluminum reflective coating considerably reduces the effect of heat radiation.

Limited flame spread


Hohenstein uses various test methods to examine the protective effect of textiles, seams and clothing against flames and fire. Fire fighter gear is designed to protect the wearer during both firefighting and related activities, such as rescue work or in disaster situations. The most important safety-relevant requirement for firefighter protective clothing is limited flame spread.

This means that, during testing, both the outside and the inside of the material structure are exposed to flame.

Testing Requirements:

● Flaming time: 10 seconds
● Afterburning time < 2 s • Afterglow time < 2 s
● No hole-formation except in the barrier layer, no burning or melting dripping
● The seams must remain closed and the closure elements must remain functional
● The seams, reflective material, closure elements and all ingredients are also flamed under the same conditions
● Accessories such as name badges, imprints, etc. must be tested for their effect on the protective function

In addition, the entire clothing system can be flame-treated on a dummy – without undergarments and without firefighting accessories. The dummy is exposed to an average exposure temperature of 800 to 1,000 degrees Celsius for eight seconds. The experts then determine the extent to which a wearer can expect second- and thirddegree burns.

Weak points in the construction of the protective clothing must be revealed. Expert examination considers things like missing or insufficient insulation or incompatible material layers. If, for example, one of the layers shrinks more than the others during flame treatment, the protective effect is lost.

The importance of proper construction becomes very clear in the case of jackets. Normally, a jacket of between 10 and 12 centimetres is shortened in the rear back area when exposed to flame. The shrinkage is significantly higher if the layers are not properly constructed. If one of the layers shrinks too strongly, it pulls all the layers up the wearer’s back. The user then lacks the necessary insulation intended by the protective jacket. Shrinking reflective stripes to improve visibility can also cause protective clothing to be pulled up or pulled too tightly against the body. All of these elements must be considered in the testing plan.


SOURCE:

https://www.hsmemagazine.com/article/fire-and-flame-for-your-safety/