What’s New in 2017?

2016 brought a lot of activity for the technical committees that develop FR and AR industry standards. The staff at ArcWear is proud to participate on technical committees for standard development and to relay a summary of what we know to our readers. If you missed the OH&S Webinar presented by Hugh Hoagland last week, read on for an outline of what’s coming down the pipeline. You can also watch the presentation here.

NFPA 2112 (Industrial Flash Fire) 2018 Edition

  • Scope, testing, and requirement additions for gloves and shrouds/hoods/balaclavas
  • New requirements for emblems (shields, heraldry, logos, printing)
    • Non FR emblems are now limited in size and FR emblems must meet test requirements
  • Rainwear will NOT be included in the 2018 edition
  • Calibration changes were made to large scale manikin testing
  • Once published, manufacturers will have until August 10, 2018 to get certified to the new edition

The second draft report and ballot were posted this month and are available to the public here.

NFPA 70E (Electrical Safety in the Workplace) 2018 Edition

  • Mandatory references to ASTM standards were removed from the body and added into the appendix.  Note that OSHA 1910.269 still cites ASTM F1506.
  • Arc rated clothing is still required, but no specific standard is defined within the mandatory text.

The second draft report and ballot were posted this month and are available to the public here.

Glove Specification

Many have moved towards ground gloves for workers, and the market for arc rated gloves has picked up lately. A new ASTM standard for arc rated protector gloves with a scope that covers gloves intended to be worn alone or on top of rubber insulated gloves will be balloted in April. Some additional physical testing, like cut and puncture, will be included. This could improve the market for gloves to allow more dexterity and better grip. Stay tuned for more information on the progression of the document.

ASTM Conformity Assessment Guide

A new (nonmandatory) guide, aimed to help technical committees consider conformity assessment schemes appropriate for specifications, has been balloted and will soon be published.  The guide was developed consistently with the NIOSH framework and is intended to be flexible for use by technical committees when considering conformity assessment implementation in performance specifications or companion documents. Example models of conformity assessment schemes are provided in the appendix.

As always, the ArcWear staff will bring updates as they come. Contact us if you have any questions

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