You need to respect fire, it can be incredibly dangerous. Burns are one of the worst types of injuries that you can suffer. They don’t heal quickly and can be incredibly painful. If you work in an industry that requires flame retardant workwear then you’ll want to understand exactly which type of protective workwear you need. Even if you work in an industry in which fires at work may not affect you, burn related injuries are still a common hazard.
In high risk environments, wearing the correct flame retardant workwear will help to minimise the chance of this type of injury happening. Getting it wrong could mean the difference between a minor accident and potential third-degree burns - and the difference lies in how each garment is made.
Fire resistant fabric is characterised by resisting ignition or self-extinguishing once the source of the ignition is removed. These types of fabrics will not be affected by intense heat, so are not likely to catch fire just from being near a flame.
Fire resistant fabric does have some kind of flame resistance built into the structure of the fabric, but it can still catch fire if exposed to a direct flame. This type of fabric can burn, but will do so very slowly. It is designed to prevent fire from rapidly spreading.
Flame retardant means that a chemical substance has been added to materials during their manufacturing process in order to reduce the likelihood of the finished product catching fire and to slow down the combustion process.
This means that flame retardant fabrics are treated with a special chemical application, in order to be slow-burning or self-extinguishing when exposed to an open flame. Without this special chemical application, the clothing does not qualify as flame retardant.
Flame retardant workwear plays an important role in many industries including oil and gas, mining and manufacturing. Flame retardant clothing is also an important choice of workwear for engineers. Flame retardant clothing is not designed to prevent burn injuries, only to reduce the devastation caused by them. It has also been shown to increase the survival rate for burn victims.
Work & Wear Direct stock a selection of workwear suitable for hazardous workplaces including flame retardant trousers and sweatshirts and flame retardant overalls. We also sell a range of flame retardant base layer clothing. When wearing this type of clothing layered together, rather than individually, the layers allow more time before the wearer sustains a burn injury to the skin.
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