Safety first - October 2018

ONE OF these Groups concentrates on Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE). The BSIF Respiratory Protection Product Group is a ‘broad church’. It was, like many more of BSIF’s product groups, born out of the original Personal Safety Manufacturers Association (PSMA) group for manufacturers of RPE. However the lines which define a manufacturer have become increasingly blurred in recent years due to:

• Organisations within our industry taking a wider variety of routes to market and approaches to branding; and
• Regulatory requirements within Europe, firstly from the PPE Directive and now from the PPE Regulation, defining responsibilities and obligations by the processes of operation that a company adopts rather than by how it chooses to classify itself.

Because of this, membership of the Respiratory Protection Product Group in recent years has grown to include RPE importers with manufacturer’s responsibilities, brand owners, and distributors, and during last year the Group further expanded to include organisations with specific interest in RPE in such areas as specialist industry distribution, and provision of fit testing. The Group collectively is keen to ensure the needs of new members are also met, and to find the most appropriate way to serve their interests so that their work and outcomes can reach the widest audience within their area of respiratory protection.

Add to this standing invitations to participate to a number of other stakeholders, including the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), the Health & Safety Laboratory, and Notified Bodies who issue certification for RPE, and you can see just how broad the agenda can be. 

British Standards

BSIF nominate a number of individuals from this Product Group to sit on the UK’s national standards committee at BSI. Through this work they can also represent the UK at CEN committees in Europe and at ISO Standards drafting meetings globally, and these activities are reported back to those attending each Group meeting, keeping UK manufacturers up to date with developments in the regulatory aspects of their business.

This is particularly of interest at the moment as a number of supporting ISO standards on test methods and other aspects of RPE requirements have recently reached publication stage, and we are getting very close to the publication of the main two ISO performance standards, one for supplied air RPE and the other for filtering RPE. In addition, 2017 and 2018 has seen work progress at CEN as all the EN RPE standards have become due for review, and many will have revised editions published. These will follow the approaches adopted by ISO in their work on global standards, so that transition between the two and the development of product to meet both sets of requirements will be feasible.

The HSE play an active role in most of the BSIF special interest groups, but it has always worked particularly closely with the Respiratory Protection Group. The BSIF also administer the Fit2Fit scheme which accredits individuals, provided they can pass a stringent written and practical examination, as competent to conduct fit testing, and the HSE are heavily involved in maintaining the operation of this scheme. Over the last two years the HSE guidance on fit testing, OC 282/28, has been revised, and from its new publication date much of the guidance will be provided by ‘industry’ in the form of an accompanying document produced by the BSIF. From now on HSE will prescribe ‘what’ you need to do to comply, and Fit2Fit will explain ‘how’ you can do it.

Finally, I cannot complete this review without paying tribute to the Group’s most recent past Chairman, Alan McArthur of 3M. Alan had guided this Group unerringly for many years before his untimely death early this year. Many will remember him through other avenues as he was deeply involved in his subject over a wide variety of ways in providing assistance on RPE matters, and certainly proved to be a fountain of knowledge on the subject, but those associated with the BSIF and the Fit2Fit scheme will remember him for the great contributions he made to their development and continuance. The Group is in equally safe hands now with a new Chairman, but few will forget the legacy that Alan has left us.

Frank Angear is general manager of the BSIF. For more information, visit www.bsif.co.uk