Advices
By designing protective clothing in an adequate way, the correct position on the user during use is ensured, the clothing remains in the place intended for use, while taking into account the environmental factor, as well as the movements and positions in which the person is put during work or other activities. For this purpose, appropriate characteristics, such as adequate adaptability to systems or an adequate range of sizes, ensure that the protective clothing is adaptable to the user's morphology.
Comfort
Protective clothing provides the wearer with a degree of comfort in combination with the degree of protection against hazards, environmental conditions, levels of user activity and the anticipated time of use of the protective clothing. Specific standards include requirements related to the comfort of particular types of protective clothing and methods for their assessment (e.g. assessment by manual inspection, visual inspection or wear test). Protective clothing must not:
Technical requirements for protective clothing
Where applicable, the design of protective clothing shall take into account other items of protective clothing or equipment worn together with the protective clothing. Appropriate levels of protection should ensure that areas of the product from the same manufacturer overlap, such as sleeves and gloves, trousers and footwear, hoods and respiratory equipment combinations. Minimum mechanical properties should be defined in each specific standard to ensure the strength of the clothing.
Some standards require information on mass. In this case, the mass should be given for the entire garment as part of the manufacturer's information or on the marking. The mass is measured at 20º C, relative humidity of 65% and, under the new conditions, a tolerance or range of mass should be defined in the specific standards. The mass of one size of clothing should be measured to verify the stated mass given in the manufacturer's information or on the marking.
Comfort according to standards
Where permitted, protective clothing should be made of materials with low water vapor resistance and/or high air permeability and/or should be sufficiently ventilated to minimize discomfort and thermal stress. In these cases, the test method and the requirement for the resistance of the material or clothing to water vapor, the air permeability of the material or the ventilation of the clothing should be specified in the standards.
Protective clothing should indicate significant ergonomic properties such as thermal stress or discomfort due to the need to provide adequate protection, along with information from the manufacturer listed as advice or warning. There should be specific advice on the appropriate duration of continuous use of the garment for its intended purpose.
Design
The design of protective clothing should ensure that appropriate parts of the body remain covered during the expected movements of the wearer (e.g. the jacket should reach the waist when the arms are raised) if this is defined in the specific standard. Specific standards for protective clothing should also include test criteria such as:
