EN 511
Gloves against cold
Requirements and testing of gloves against convective and contact cold, including water penetration.
Current edition:
EN 511:2006The current edition for two decades; no published successor as of the review date.
At the review date EN 511:2006 is harmonised under Regulation (EU) 2016/425 (since 21 April 2018). The EU Official Journal defines the status at any given time.
What does the standard require?
- Scope: protection against convective and contact cold down to −50 °C
- Convective cold: thermal insulation (ITR) on a heated hand model in a climatic chamber — levels 1–4 at 0.10 / 0.15 / 0.22 / 0.30 m²·°C/W thresholds
- Contact cold: thermal resistance of the material against a cold solid surface (levels 0–4)
- Water penetration: 30-minute whole-glove immersion — 0 = penetrates, 1 = no penetration
- Additional low-temperature flexing test for coatings intended for use below −30 °C
Marking on the product: 3 digits, e.g. 121
convective cold (0–4) · contact cold (0–4) · water penetration (0 or 1)
Related standards
Laboratory testing
Laboratory testing related to this standard — for development, verification and quality disputes. Which of the standard's tests run in our own laboratory, and which are sourced from a laboratory equipped for them, is stated before the quotation.
Certification (NB 1524)
The standard belongs to BIMEO’s notified-body conformity-assessment scope — EU type-examination is available against it.
Technical content cross-checked against external sources. Last reviewed: 2026-08-14. The authoritative list of harmonised versions is always the EU Official Journal.
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