Fire resistant clothing is useful and very helpful in increasing worker safety in most industrial settings where employees are exposed to electrical equipment.
Additionally, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) requires employers to conduct safety assessments of their facilities and outfit their workers with proper arc flash clothing or fire resistant clothing for the hazard levels present on the job. Most commonly used standard for arc flash safety requirements is the NFPA 70E, which outlines protection levels for various hazard that may be present in electric circuits or when dealing with any energized parts. It is estimated that as many as 10 accidents involving arc flashes occur in the United States each day, and proper arc flash clothing can greatly reduce or eliminate worker injuries in those accidents.
How to Select Your Fire Resistant Clothing
Conduct an assessment of the job that requires arc flash or fire resistant clothing. An easy way to determine the risk category for a particular task is to compare your task at hand to the list of common jobs provided in the NFPA 70E standard’s table 130.7 (c)(9). Evaluate the difference and determine whether your job presents more or less hazard than what you found on the table and determine your HRC (Hazard/Risk Category) from zero to 4. Make sure that the fire resistant garments you select are rated for equal or higher calorie rating than what is present in your job. Evaluate the Arc Rating of your garments. Arc Rating is measured in cal per centimeter squared, and is the amount of incident energy that the garments can be exposed to and cause the onset of 2nd degree burn 50 percent of time. Keep in mind that you can layer flame resistant clothing to achieve a higher Arc Rating.
Upon completing your hazard evaluation, look at the material options that fit your HRC or Arc Rating requirements. Different materials possess unique characteristics that make them ideal for various applications. The differences in fire resistant fabrics include the weight and flexibility (comfort), cost, lifetime, appearance, and, arc rating, and additional functions, such as chemical resistance, that might be beneficial for certain applications.
Please view our fire resistant fabric guideline for various information comparing qualities of different FR fabrics including Nomex IIIA, Comdort Blend, CPX of Nomex, Amplitude, Advance, Indura, Indura Ultra Soft, PRO-Cfr Knit, PBI Gold, Firewear and Protera. Take a look at the various qualities of these materials to determine what fabric would be the best fit for your application.
The information on this page is based on informative and easy-to-follow literature from Workrite Uniforms.