Work jacket standards
Like the other safety equipment required for the exercise of certain professions, the work jacket must also meet certain regulatory standards. This allows it to offer the required level of protection while being comfortable to wear.
The qualities that a work jacket must have
Worn by individuals working in crafts, construction, industry, transport, cooking and more. The work jacket must be made in such a way as to offer the required level of safety and comfort. This is indeed the condition for qualifying it as such. That is to say equipment that effectively protects the wearer against risks. Also, a work jacket must resist abrasion, tearing and clashes with other materials or materials. It must also be able to effectively protect the worker against bad weather such as cold, wind, rain and heat... As a result, it must have good thermal abilities while being waterproof and impermeable according to the trades and the needs.
Standards that a work jacket must meet
The work jacket is subject to several standards depending on the trade for which it is intended. These include EN 340, EN 342, EN 343 and EN 471.
The EN 340 standard:
The first, EN 340 is the regulation governing protective equipment throughout the European continent. It is the reference standard to be relied upon by manufacturers of workwear concerning ergonomics, wear, care, sizes and dimensions and information the user is expected to know about these products.
The EN 342 standard:
The EN 342 standard indicates the degrees of resistance to cold of the work jacket, in particular for extreme temperatures below -5°C. This standard thus specifies 2 criteria, namely the level of air permeability of the garment and that of its evaporative resistance or breathability. With the relative pictogram, the top number indicates the permeability class while the bottom one the level of breathability.
The EN 343 standard:
The EN 343 standard, meanwhile, also concerns the level of protection offered by the garment against bad weather, including wind, cold and rain. The work jacket that has the relative sign thus has the characteristics of impermeability to wind and rain, with the level of its impermeability at the top and that of its breathability at the bottom.
The EN 471 standard:
The EN 471 standard also applies to the visibility of the work jacket. This means that this workwear for women or man has reflective or fluorescent properties, the means allowing to signal the presence of a person to the surroundings when you can't see much. The jacket that has it is called a high visibility or signaling garment. However, this standard categorizes the garment according to 2 criteria, including the surface of fluorescent fabric and that of retro-reflective material, both measured in m2. According to the extent of the surface of these, they are classified 1, 2 and 3.
The EN 11612 standard:
Regulation EN 11612 refers to the performance requirements for work clothing to protect the worker against heat and flames. A jacket can also be subject to it depending on the working conditions, but this standard mainly concerns hoods, shoe covers and gaiters.
The EN 1149 finally details the antistatic properties of work clothing in order to reduce the level of electricity in the premises to avoid sparks likely to cause a fire.
Other no less important standards common to all work protective clothing, including the work jacket, still exist, such as EN 531, 532 and 533, for example, all 3 against heat and flame. The work jacket is often entirely made of cotton, cottonpoly or polycotton in order to meet current breathability standards. It must also include various pockets, very practical for storing telephones, tools and spare parts, everything needed by mechanics, electricians, plumbers, etc.