Suggestions on the economic testing and conformity-certification
of personal protective equipment (PPE)
The main part of the costs comes from testing the PPE. Thus it is most important to put together an order expediently.
It is expedient to send in for testing PPE that have the same (or nearly identical) material composition. If according to the „Technical description form” a material with the same name and manufacturer is used in more gloves or footwear, we only test it once and will use this test report for all the PPE sent in with the same order that contains this material. It is important that the material should be the same in every respect, as well as according to the „Technical description form” of the different PPE.
It is also expedient to form a model family from PPE that have the same or nearly identical material composition and let these be tested at the same time. E.g. a model family consists of 3 models that share an identical material composition and only differ in the style of the models. If these PPE are sent in to be tested together the costs for the testing will be only 1,3-1,4 times the testing cost of 1 PPE model instead of being 3-4 times higher.
Which PPE can be expediently tested together?
For gloves:
a) Gloves with identical material composition but with short and long cuffs;
b) Gloves with identical material composition but with a different number of fingers and/or style of the fingers;
c) Gloves with the same main material and construction but with and without lining, etc.
For footwear:
a) Footwear with identical material composition that only differ in the height or the style of the upper;
b) Footwear differing only in the material of the toecap – steel for safety shoes and some other material for work shoes;
c) Point b) can be extended to footwear with and without a steel midsole;
d) Safety and work footwear differing only in the material of the linings, etc.
How far the PPE sent in for testing can be treated as one model family will be decided by the testing laboratory, the price of the testing will be determined accordingly.
There are cases where it is possible to partly take over test results for a material or component of a PPE if the same material or component has been sent in for testing by the same customer during a previous order for testing. This makes a complete testing unnecessary. The conditions for this are that the material or component has to be accurately indicated in both cases, that only a little time passed between the two orders for testing and that our control tests prove the two materials or components to be identical. In these cases only the costs of the control tests will be charged not the costs for the complete testing. (E.g. for footwear uppers and soles this could mean that for the respective material only one size of the footwear will have to be tested instead of the usual three sizes.)
The certification procedure is based on a different logic. The same EC type-certificate can cover only PPE with identical material composition and identical protection level. Different certificates (EC Declaration of Conformity and User Information Brochure) would be needed for all the following exemplary PPE:
Gloves:
EN 420 + EN 388 (Safety level: 2 1 2 3)
EN 420 + EN 388 (Safety level: 2 2 2 3)
EN 420 + EN 388 (Safety level: 3 1 2 3)
EN 420 + EN 388 (Safety level: 2 3 2 X)
EN 420 + EN 388 (Safety level: 2 1 2 3) + EN 407 (Safety level: X 2 X X 2 X)
EN 420 + EN 388 (Safety level: 2 1 2 3) + EN 407 (Safety level: 2 2 X 2 X)
Footwear:
EN 20345 (Safety level: SB)
EN 20345 (Safety level: S1)
EN 20345 (Safety level: S2)
EN 20345 (Safety level: S3)
EN 20345 (Safety level: SB, P)
EN 20345 (Safety level: S1, ESD)
EN 20347 (Safety level: OB)
EN 20347 (Safety level: OB, E, FO)
EN 20347 (Safety level: O1)
EN 20347 (Safety level: O2)
EN 20347 (Safety level: O2, WR, HI, CI, HRO, FO)
All footwear with O2, WR, HI, CI, HRO, FO safety level can be covered by one certificate if they all satisfy the requirements of EN 20347 and differ at most in the height of the upper and/or the style of the model.
How far the PPE sent in for certification can be treated as one model family and can be covered under one EC type-certificate will be decided by the certifying body, the price of the certification will be determined accordingly.
It is also possible to expand already issued certification documents to subsequent PPE models. The requirement for identical material composition and identical safety level is still valid however. For such an expansion only controlling tests are carried out. If the PPE conforms to the respective requirements, the cost for expanding the certificate will be between 30% and 50% of the full certification cost.
The regulations covering the procedure of conformity certification can be accessed on the web pages of BIMEO: www.bimeo.hu/tanszab_1_en.htm