English -- Standard on Emergency Services Work Apparel - Effective Date: 11/25/2018

Abstract

Scope: This standard shall specify requirements for the design, performance, testing, and certification of nonprimary protective work apparel and the individual garments comprising work apparel. Work apparel garments shall not include socks, dress uniforms, and specific types of undergarments including briefs, boxer shorts, boxer briefs, and bras. This standard shall also specify requirements for the thermal stability of textiles used in the construction of work apparel. This standard shall also specify optional requirements for flame resistance, water resistance, and insect repellency where such options are specified or claimed to be used in construction of work apparel. This standard shall not specify requirements for clothing that is intended to provide primary protection from given hazard exposures. Certification of work apparel to the requirements of this standard shall not preclude certification to additional applicable standards for primary protective clothing where the clothing meets all requirements of each standard. This standard shall not be construed as addressing all of the safety concerns associated with the use of compliant work apparel garments for their personnel. It shall be the responsibility of the persons and organizations that use compliant work apparel garments to establish safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use. This standard shall not be construed as addressing all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with the use of this standard by testing facilities. It shall be the responsibility of the persons and organizations that use this standard to conduct testing of work apparel garments to establish safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to using this standard for any designing, manufacturing, and testing. This standard shall not specify requirements for any accessories that could be attached to the certified product but are not necessary for the certified product to meet the requirements of this standard. Nothing herein shall restrict any jurisdiction or manufacturer from exceeding these minimum requirements. Purpose. The purpose of this standard shall be to provide emergency services personnel with work apparel that will not contribute to burn injury severity. To achieve this purpose, this standard shall establish minimum requirements for thermally stable textiles that will not rapidly deteriorate, melt, shrink, or adhere to the wearer\'s skin, causing greater, more severe burn injuries. This standard shall also provide optional flame resistance requirements and tests to verify the flame resistance of textiles where the authority having jurisdiction specifies the use of flame resistance textiles for the construction of work apparel, or where the manufacturer represents work apparel textiles as flame resistant. This standard shall also provide optional liquid resistance requirements and tests to verify the liquid resistance of textiles where the authority having jurisdiction specifies the use of liquid resistant textiles for the construction of work apparel, or where the manufacturer represents work apparel textiles as having liquid resistant properties. This standard shall also provide optional insect repellency requirements and tests to verify the insect repellency of textiles where the authority having jurisdiction specifies the use of insect repellent textiles for the construction of work apparel, or where the manufacturer represents work apparel textiles as having insect repellent properties. Controlled laboratory tests used to determine compliance with the performance requirements of this standard shall not be deemed as establishing performance levels for all situations to which emergency services personnel might be exposed. This standard shall not be intended to serve as a detailed manufacturing or purchasing specification but shall be permitted to be referenced in purchase specifications as minimum requirements.