Specialist laundering gives optimum protection

Today’s protective workwear has changed beyond recognition in terms of both its design and its materials construction.

Employers are increasingly placing pressure on the garment manufacturer to develop specially designed protective garments to meet the demands of individual work environments and at the same time are requiring that the garments fulfil corporate branding requirements.

The result is more complex garment constructions with focus on garment function and occupational safety—and greater importance attached to the correct observance of specialist cleaning processes.

European protective wear legislation is also tightening with performance standards better defined.

Today’s protective garments are more precious and require laundering to a high standard of professional care. To wash this type of specialised workwear in the domestic washing machine will lead to a decrease in functionality of the garment and also to premature wear.

Workwear requiring special protective properties range from the white coats, theatre drapes and uniforms worn in healthcare institutions, to the chemical body suits worn by high-risk industry. Experience is the key to the proper care of special apparel. At Büfa we have relevant experience in how to treat a wide variety of protective apparel and can therefore adapt our knowledge to advise and supply solvents to meet individual cleaning requirements.

A complex area is the purification of PPE worn by the fire services. Due to the limitless number of hostile environments, sometimes of unknown dangers, faced by the fire services, the construction of the garments is designed to be flexible enough to endure anything from extreme heat or cold to chemical exposure. At the same time garments must be breathable for wearer comfort and safety.

In recent years the fire services in Europe have been equipped with new protective apparel which meets the requirements set by DIN EN 469.

The profile of requirements regarding the description of manufacture and testing (HuPF) for universal protective work clothing for the fire services has been interpreted to fulfil the following objectives: protection against rain and water; protection against flames and flying sparks; protection against cold; protection against mechanical influences; protection against oil; protection against liquid chemicals penetration; wear comfort; high visibility warning function.

Protective clothing worn by the fire services is, in most cases, made of NOMEX fabrics with an integrated membrane system, and is equipped with reflecting luminous stripes and fabric protection. The bulkiness and the volume of this type of work clothing means that good cleaning results are impossible to achieve in a standard domestic washing machine. Domestic washing products, bleaching agents, alkaline washing powders and high temperatures during the washing process are all factors which can affect the long term functionality of the work clothing or even cause permanent damage.

Scotchgard protection—which is applied during the manufacture of NOMEX garments and is designed to provide water repellency and to protect against chemicals, oils and other hostile liquids—for example, is a protective feature which will be lost to the garment during a standard wash process.

Experience and knowledge is the key to best practice, as there is great responsibility placed on the launderer of PPE. The health, safety and perhaps the lives of the wearer and the fire victims being saved could be on the line.

To avoid damage to protective garments incorporating, for example, luminous stripes it is important to remember the following points: do not soak; do not use high concentrated alkaline detergents; do not use bleaching agents; do not hole the material (membrane); ensure that velcro type fasteners and zippers are closed before you start to wash (danger of pilling effect); ensure that loading is no more than 50% of the machine’s capacity.

It is also important to make sure that during the drying stage in the tumbler, the temperature of the outgoing air does not exceed 80°C. Due to the pilling effect and the poor behaviour of the fabrics during the drying process, caused by the membrane system, NOMEX clothing should be dryed in the machine for a short time and then left to dry naturally. This is important to ensure the maintenance of the Scotchgard fabric protection.