Category Archives: General

OSHA & Industry Changes that Impact FR Clothing Programs

OSHA & Industry Changes that Impact FR Clothing Programs

The challenge of keeping pace with keeping safe

In today’s world, information overload makes it nearly impossible to digest all of the messages constantly being pushed at us. With a steady stream of news updates always in front of us, it can be difficult to pull out the most important and relevant issues. Two items that are particularly important to the electric and utility industries are OSHA’s changes to standard 1910.269 regarding FR clothing and the proposed changes to ASTM F1506. Read more to learn about OSHA clothing regulations and requirements.

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9 Immutable Keys to Safety

Is Safety an Initiative or a Value at Your Organization?

Safety is an initiative that every organization should prioritize, and eventually turn into a value. Being safe is about employee buy-in and the employees themselves – not just about the numbers. Much like with personal protective equipment (PPE) – where you have to get employees to see the value in wearing it or they won’t – if your employees don’t stand behind your safety program, it is not going to work.

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Performed as Designed - Westex eZine Sept 13

When Proper Arc Flash Protection Performs as Designed

Arc flash accidents are frequently noted when, unfortunately, something terrible goes wrong and an employee is injured. However, not all of these stories end badly due to proper use of arc flash protection. In his article for Flame Resistant Insights, Larry Hilgeman of The Hilgeman Group, Inc., shares a report from a real-life arc flash incident that ended positively as a result of the worker wearing the right PPE.

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Westex Makes $650,000 Commitment to NJATC

Westex has entered into agreement with The National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee for the Electrical Industry (NJATC) to create the Westex Personal Protective Equipment Academyprogram to train the next generation of union electrical workers.

Over the next five years, Westex will donate $650,000 in cash, product and training support, to enhance the IBEW/NECA training efforts by Descargar

INHERENT VS. TREATED: DOES IT REALLY MATTER?

Historically, the flame resistant properties of flame resistant fabrics could be separated into two categories: Inherent and treated. Once upon a time, this was a relevant distinction. It meant the difference between FR properties that were durable, and those that were not. However, these terms ceased to provide information to safety managers looking to evaluate FR fabrics way back in 1987.

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THE SAFETY IS IN THE FABRIC

The success of your flame resistant (FR) clothing program depends heavily on the fabric used to construct the garments. Both arc rating and flash fire «2112» testing are done by fabric brand and weight; the fabric brand is also the key factor in durability of FR properties, initial and long term comfort, shrinkage control, wear life, and more.  For these reasons, it’s very important that you take an active role in specifying the fabric used to produce finished garments. Here are a few questions to consider when evaluating fabric manufacturers:

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Introducing: Westex TrueComfort Knits

Westex TrueComfortTM is a new advancement in flame resistant knit fabrics.

The new TrueComfortTM fabrics are lightweight, soft and breathable, and offer the same guarantee of flame resistance for the life of the garment as Westex’s proven UltraSoft®, UltraSoft AC® and Indura® brands. In addition, TrueComfortTM provides excellent arc flash protection with an Arc Rating of 8.9 (ATPV) for NFPA 70E HRC 2 performance and it is UL certified to NFPA 2112 for flash fire protection.

Any job functions that require arc flash and/or flash fire protection and extreme comfort such as maintenance and electrical work (NFPA 70E), electric and gas utilities personnel, electrical contractors, oil, gas & petrochemical workers, military personnel and many others, can benefit from Westex TrueComfortTM knit fabrics.

Like Westex on Facebook, We Like the NJATC

Westex is committed to continuing a strong relationship in safety education and training with NECA, NJATC and IBEW. As part of our commitment to safety Westex will donate $1 to the NJATC for everyone who likes our Facebook page through December 31, 2015*. Like Westex’s Facebook page and you will be not only helping the NJATC but you will receive the latest information on arc flash safety including high definition videos of live arc flashes. As a proud Platinum Training Partner of the NJATC and a Premier Partner of NECA we thank you for helping to spread the word about arc flash safety.

https://www.facebook.com/westexinc

*Up to $30,000

Comfort, heat stress and garment selection

There are many questions and even more misunderstandings around comfort and heat stress for people specifying or wearing arc rated and flame resistant protective apparel; thus, it is important to understand a few basics on the interrelationship, if any, to garment or fabric type and weight. Discomfort and heat stress are not used interchangeably. Comfort is an inherently subjective characteristic that cannot be effectively or predictably measured by lab tests or judged across a desk, and is considered a nuisance issue. However, heat illness is a specific and potentially medically consequential event; it is unrelated to comfort, and is a potentially major health issue.

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