North America Standards

This set of rules was developed based on the experiences of American society throughout their history, as a way of guaranteeing conditions of protection for workers at risk. The objective was to create and maintain standards and requirements for the prevention and supervision of activities, training, equipment specification, and also the development of safety standards and codes.

The regulatory requirements for protective equipment were established by the Electricity Safety Technical Committee of the National Fire Protection Association - NFPA, which refers to the test standards established by the American Society for Testing and Materials - ASTM. Therefore, the reference standards for clothing are the NFPA 2112 and NFPA 70E standards, which refer to a series of ASTM test standards.

• NFPA 2112: Standard for flame resistant clothing for industrial protection against sudden fire - Standard on Flame-Resistant Garments for personal fire protection.
• NFPA 70E: Electrical safety at the workplace - Electrical Safety in the Workplace.

Flash Fire

NFPA 2112

North American certification program for clothing resistant to sudden fire - determines the minimum requirements for assessment, testing, and approval of ready-made clothing, according to pre-established model and measures. Establishes cut lines for tests performed on clothing and fabrics.

ASTM F 1930

Test of instrumented dummy with ready-to-wear according to model and measures pre-established in the standard. This dummy features more than 100 internal sensors that detect the percentage of burns and the place where they occurred. NFPA 2112 establishes that the test should be carried out on three samples, with a time of exposure to the flame of 3 seconds, in addition to other physical tests, and considers a percentage of fires of up to 50% as approved. The test result is given in a report with a graph showing the levels of burning and the burned region. It reports in detail all the conditions observed in the test.

ASTM D 6413

Test method that assesses the vertical flammability of textile samples received after 25 wash cycles. The test is carried out in the warp x weft direction. NFPA 2112 establishes a carbonization limit of 102 mm and a flame extinguishment time of two seconds. In this method, samples of fabrics containing trimmings that can compose garments externally, such as reflective strips, can be evaluated. The test will be recorded in a report containing detailed information.

Electric Arc

NFPA 70E

It specifies the protective equipment and classifies it in four risk categories based on the ATPV, according to the table below:

ASTM F 1506

Standard that establishes the construction and testing requirements for electricians' clothing. Determines the cut lines for the ASTM D 6413 and F 1959 standards, among others, which evaluate the physical and chemical characteristics of the textile sample.

ASTM D 6413

Vertical flammability (evaluates the textile sample as received and after 25 wash cycles). ASTM F 1506 establishes 152 mm as a carbonization limit and maximum flame persistence of 2 seconds.

ASTM F 1959

Standard that determines the ATPV (Arc Thermal Performance Value) through tests on at least 20 tissue samples. The report presents the results of sample behavior, flammability, ATPV, HAF (Heat Attenuation Factor), which is the percentage of incident energy that is blocked by the tested material when it is subjected to the electrical arc at a certain incident energy value.

ASTM F 2621

This standard provides for an observation test of the behavior of materials, products or assemblies in the form of finished products to determine their integrity, closures and seams, when exposed to the radiant and convective energy generated by an electric arc under controlled conditions in the laboratory. It is complementary to the ASTM F 1959 standard, that is, the materials used in making the equipment, which will be tested in accordance with the ASTM F 2621 standard, must be previously tested in accordance with the ASTM F 1959 standard.

The constructive requirements of the materials used in the manufacture of the equipment that will be subjected to the tests of the ASTM F 2621 standard are established by the ASTM F 1506 standard.

ASTM F 2178

This standard is used to evaluate combined facial protection equipment (arrangements made in the combination of hood, helmet, and visor or helmet and visor) when subjected to the electric arc and to determine the ATPV of the combined equipment.

Stationwear

NFPA 1975

This standard specifies protective clothing for plainclothes firefighters and presents the minimum requirements in terms of performance and design that such clothing must meet. Among the tests required in the standard are:

• Flammability after 100 washes;
• Thermal shrinkage;
• Seams quality;
• Durability of labels.

The rule makes it clear that its objective is to guarantee protection to the firefighter in all situations, but that the garments Stationwear, of plainclothes firefighters, must be used in conjunction with combat clothing in the event of a fire.

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