For safety reasons it is very important that the correct personal protective equipment is used. We supply personal protective equipment from various brands such as 3M, Gerba, Force and Translas TipWorks.
Our range consists of:

• Hearing and head protection
• Safety glasses
• Welding shields and accessories
• Eye and face protection
• Extensive range of work clothing
• Extensive range of welding gloves
• Safety shoes and boots

CE approval and EN standards
In Europe all personal protective equipment must be CE approved and labelled as such otherwise it may not be sold. The CE labelling only shows that the product has been tested and found to comply with the elementary safety standards of directive 89/686 EEC. The fact that the product bears the label does not, therefore, show whether or not it is suitable for a particular job. Neither does it say anything about the performance and/or properties of the particular product. It is necessary to study the product standard in order to determine this.

European standards for motor-driven systems
The European standard for a fully motor-driven filter system including a face shield or visor is EN 12941 (replaces EN 146:1991). There is no separate class for dust/particle filters (P) in standard EN 12941; the dust/particle filter is included in the classification of the system.

Standard EN 12941 has 3 performance levels (TH1, TH2 and TH3). The numbers show the performance level (inward leakage) within the classification. The inward leakage for class TH1 is maximum 10%, for TH2 maximum 2% and for TH3 maximum 0.2%.

When a mask is fitted with a gas and vapour filter, letters and colour codes indicate which types of gases and vapours the filter medium gives protection against, for example: A for organic, B for inorganic and E for acidic gases, as defined in standard EN 12941. The capacity requirements for these gas and vapour filters apply only to motor-driven systems and are tested using the same quantity of air as that for the motor-driven systems.
For example: one of the gas and vapour filters in the Adflo unit is classed as A1B1E1. The numbers show the capacity of the filter: “1” for low capacity, “2” for medium capacity and “3” for high capacity.

European standards for fresh air systems
There are 2 standards for fresh air systems that include a face shield or visor: EN 270 and EN 1835. A fresh air system with a face shield or visor for which the total inward leakage is less than 0.5% can be approved in accordance with European standard EN 270 (1994). The system does not have an independent supply of compressed air in a separate cylinder and the supply of fresh air must be of respirable quality and comply with the requirements of EN12021.

A fresh air system for light work with a face shield or visor can be approved in accordance with European standard EN 1835 (1999). EN 1835 has 3 performance levels (LDH1, LDH2 and LDH3). The numbers show the performance level (inward leakage). For LDH1 the maximum is 10%, for LDH2 the maximum is 2% and for LDH3 the maximum is 0.5%. The system does not have an independent supply of compressed air and the user must be supplied with air of respirable quality from a source of compressed air, for example a compressor. The maximum permitted length of the high pressure hose is 10 metres.

European standard classification for eye and face protection
The classification for eye and face protection is made in accordance with EN 166 (visors), EN 169 (colour/permeability of the lens represented in a scale), EN 175 (welding caps) and EN 379 (automatic darkening welding filters).

Classification according to mechanical strength (resistance to increased external influences and high speed particles) is coded using letters in standards EN 166 and EN 175: no symbol for minimal influence, ‘S’ for increased influence (falling bullet test at 5.1 m/s), ‘F’ for low energy impact (45 m/s) or ‘B’ for medium energy impact (120 m/s). The letter 'T' shows that the test for the energy impact has been carried out at extreme temperatures (-5 and + 55 degrees Celsius) Numbers after the letters for mechanical strength are used to show the classification according to application: ‘9’ shows protection against splashing by molten metal and the penetration of hot particles, ‘3’ indicates resistance to liquids (drops and splashes) and ‘8’ is resistance to an electric arc as result of a short circuit in the electrical equipment.

Optical tests are carried out for standards EN 166 and EN 379 to prevent the occurrence of problems such as non-compliance with the light transfer of the welding filter or the light diffusion of the layers in the filter. The results of the optical tests lead to classification in 3 classes, where 1 is the best in terms of the optical quality of the welding filters or face shields. There is only 1 optical class for conventional welding filters and visors. There are four sub-classes for automatic darkening welding filters: optical class/light diffusion/transfer and, as an option, angular dependence. The classification for every Speedglas welding filter can be found in the welding filters technical data sheet. Please contact the Netherlands Standardization Institute (Nederlands Normalisatie Instituut NEN) in Delft for more details about European Standards or to obtain duplicate copies of these European Standards.