Standardization in the field of personal protective equipment

Contact: Ulrich Bamberg (bamberg@kan.de)

The statutory basis for product standardization of personal protective equipment (PPE) in Europe is directive 89/686/EEC pursuant to Article 95 of the EC Treaty. In the context of the directive, PPE comprises "any device or appliance designed to be worn or held by an individual for protection against one or more health and safety hazards". In Germany, this directive is transposed into national law by the 8th Ordinance to the Equipment Safety Act. In order to supplement directive 89/686/EEC with standards, the EU Commission issued three mandates to CEN, which resulted in the development of 320 standards for the field of PPE.

At national level in Germany, PPE standards are mainly developed in the Personal Protective Equipment Standards Committee (NPS), the Precision Engineering and Optics Standards Committee (NAFuO) and the Sports and Recreational Equipment Standards Committee (NASport) of DIN (Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V.). Since 1989, the majority of PPE standards have been drawn up in CEN/TCs 79, 85, 136, 158, 159, 160, 161 and 162 at European level, and primarily in ISO/TC 94 at international level.

A clear distinction is drawn between the manufacture of PPE products and the use of PPE. The latter is governed by EU health and safety directive 89/656/EEC (a directive pursuant to Article 137). It is transposed in Germany by the.

A study commissioned by KAN in 2001

  • established the progress made in the field of standardization;
  • assessed the level of product-based occupational health and safety in standards;
  • assessed the suitability of standards as a basis for the manufacture and certification of PPE; and
  • revealed the deficiencies in standards with regard to product-based occupational health and safety.

For further information on the subject, see:

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