Cut Protective & Chemical Gloves standards evolution Alistair Inglis Cut Protective & Chemical Gloves standards evolution September 2016

EN 388 Evolution Needs A need for change A need for change has been recognized for the EN 388 standard due to some issues of reproducibility specific to the cut and abrasion parts of the standard The reliability of the test at higher cut levels raised some questions. Recognition of the ISO 13997 TDM test ISO 13997 has been recognised as a more reliable test method than the Coupe test because of the issue of blade dulling with the Coupe test – especially when glass fibre or steel is present within the fibre mix A test for impact protection has also been added to the standard Improvement of abrasion test with new abrasive paper

What are Differences btw EN 388 (cut test method) & ISO 13997 PARAMETERS EXISTING EN 388 coupe test method PROPOSED EN ISO 13997 TDM cut test method Machine used Coup tester TDM – 100 Blades shapes Circular - rotating Straight blades Blades use Remains unchanged throughout the test Single use only Blade travel 80 mm 20 mm Force applied Constant at 5 N Increasing Good for Low levels of cut protection All levels of cut protection Cons Not good for gloves that have glass or steel within the fibre . There is a strong likelihood that the blade gets blunted after coming in contact with glass or steel and may give scores that are inconsistent to the actual performance of the material- resulting in unusually high scores for such gloves. Time consuming as a new blade is used after every cut. Each cut uses a new blade, and the test becomes expensive Scores defined Cut index Newtons Levels 5 (numbers) 6 Letters (A TO F) Coup Test Machine TDM 100 Machine

Cut Test EN 388 and ISO 13997 EN 388 Cut test levels 2 3 4 5 Cut Index ≥ 1.2 ≥ 2.5 ≥ 5.0 ≥ 10.0 ≥ 20.0 ISO 13997 Cut test levels Level A B C D E F Newton Scores ≥ 2 ≥ 5 ≥ 10 ≥ 15 ≥ 22 ≥ 30

Marking Impact OLD NEW X If the glove passes Impact protection standard  Possible to claim Impact protection in adding “P” on marking

Questions