Once the source of ignition is removed, if the material of the garment has the capability to extinguish all by itself, then the fabric of the garment is said to be flame resistant or fire resistant. This surely doesn’t mean that a person draped in FR garments will not get burnt by surrounding fire. But as the fabric of the FR clothes are treated with flame resistant chemicals, the burning process gets negatively catalysed thereby providing more time for the victims to escape the fire or find means of extinction.
Now, when it comes to the selection of the correct FR clothing, FROutlet.com is an online site that can be referred to. It has a wide range of garments, of different sorts and sizes, with essential filtering categories thereby facilitating easy searching as per requirement. People working in the oil & gas, electrical, utility, and combustible dust fields may use this place as their number one destination while purchasing FR garments.
Choice of FR garments is a very important affair as far as the people who need them are concerned. This is because it can be a life and death situation for them and in many cases it is. The basic parameters that needed to be maintained for the right selection are—
1) Hazard Identification:
One must be very well aware of what hazards one might have to face at the workplace before going to select the necessary FR Clothes. Risks for flash fires, electric arc flashes are some of the most common purposes for the use of FR clothes by employees.
2) Review of regulations and standards:
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) formulated a general duty clause that asked directs the employers to provide a safe working environment for the employees. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has however formulated two basic standards for disasters in the working environment like flash firing and electric arc flashes.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) includes helmets, goggles, protective clothing and other similar entities. Standards set by NFPA for industrial personnel against Electrical accidents as well as flash firing must be kept in mind while selecting FR garments.
3) Analysis of the Protection level:
One must resort to a thorough analysis of the FR garments before buying them. This can surely be done in terms of the required minimum arc rating often measured in Calorie per square centimetre. We can define the arc rating as—“The amount of energy required to pass through a fabric to cause a 50 percent probability of second or third-degree burns”. The higher the arc rating, the higher is the level of protection. Such is its importance that manufacturers are required to display the value of the arc rating on the respective PPE.
4) Evaluation of Garments:
There are lots and lots of parameters that are needed to be checked before the ultimate selection of FR garments, pertaining to the characteristic features of the garment. The protective features of the garment, both physical and thermal must be taken into consideration.
If applicable, the placement of high-visibility striping must be checked along with the atmospheric as well as circumstantial conditions under which the garment is to be worn.
Avoidance of static charge build-up is to be reviewed strictly. In addition to the much-needed protection, the FR garments also must have comfort for their users. Otherwise, movements and locomotion becomes extremely difficult in the workplace and the overall efficiency gets hampered.
Conclusion:
FR garments don’t have the need to express their necessity separately. They are a major requirement in the areas of thermal, electrical and thermos-electric industries. They are also needed in other industries where fire can be just a few steps away. One must go through the specifications and have enough knowledge of what one is buying before the final selection.