Source:
Textile Review
Protective Clothing
Clothing especially designed, fabricated, or treated to
protect personnel against hazards caused by extreme changes in physical
environment, dangerous working conditions, or enemy action. The term
'protective clothing' covers a wide range of products, including high
visibility garments for worker's amongst traffic; flame-proof coveralls for
racing drivers; flame and heat resistant turn-out suits for firemen; gas,
liquid, and dust proof suits for the chemical industry's workers; chain-mail
gloves for butchers; chain-saw stopping trousers for forestry workers; hard
hats and hard-toe boots for building workers; welders' UV protective gloves and
goggles; hearing protectors, immersion suits, and buoyant garments for workers
on water; rescue harnesses and fall arrest systems; bullet proof vests; and a
wide range of sports equipment from fencing masks to ice hockey goal keepers'
whole body coverage with impact absorbing padding. Viewed simply, protective
clothing is something an individual places between themselves and a hazard in
order to stay in the vicinity of the hazard with a reduced risk of injury.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) refers to protective
clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garment designed to protect the wearer's
body from injury by blunt impacts, electrical hazards, heat, chemicals, and
infection, for job-related occupational safety and health purposes, and in
sports, martial arts, combat, etc. Personal armor is combat-specialized
protective gear. In British legislation the term PPE does not cover items such
as armour. The terms "protective gear" and "protective
clothing" are in many cases interchangeable; "protective
clothing" is applied to traditional categories of clothing, and
"gear" is a more general term and preferably means uniquely
protective categories, such as pads, guards, shields, masks, etc.
PPE can also be used to protect the working environment from
pesticide application, pollution or infection from the worker (for example in a
microchip factory). The protection may be important in both ways, as with the
use of disposable gloves by surgeons and dentists.
Sunscreen and its effect
Sunscreen (also commonly known as sunblock or sun cream is a
lotion, spray, gel or other topical product that absorbs or reflects some of
the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation on the skin exposed to sunlight and thus
helps protect against sunburn. Skin lightening products have sunscreen to
protect lightened skin because light skin is susceptible to sun damage.
Sunscreens contain one or more UV filters of which there are
three main types:
- Organic chemical compounds that absorb ultraviolet
light (such as oxybenzone, a suspected photocarcinogen)
- Inorganic particulates that reflect, scatter, and
absorb UV light (such as titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, or a combination of
both).
- Organic particulates that mostly absorb light like
organic chemical compounds, but contain multiple chromophores, may reflect
and scatter a fraction of light like inorganic particulates, and behave
differently in formulations than organic chemical compounds. An example is
Tinosorb M.
Sun Protection Factor (SPF)
The SPF of a sunscreen is a laboratory measure of the
effectiveness of sunscreen the higher the SPF, the more protection a sunscreen
offers against UV-B (the ultraviolet radiation that causes sunburn).
The SPF is the amount of UV radiation required to cause
sunburn on skin with the sunscreen on, relative to the amount required without
the sunscreen. So, wearing a sunscreen with SPF 50, your skin will not burn
until it has been exposed to 50 times the amount of solar energy that would
normally cause it to burn. The amount of solar energy you are exposed to
depends not only on the amount of time you spend in the sun, but also the time
of day. This is because, during early morning and late afternoon, the sun's
radiation must pass through more of the Earth's atmosphere before it gets to
you. In practice, the protection from a particular sunscreen depends on factors
such as:
- The skin type of the user.
- The amount applied and frequency of re-application.
- Activities in which one engages (for example, swimming
leads to a loss of sunscreen from the skin).
- Amount of sunscreen the skin has absorbed.
The CPF, UPF and EPF Concept
Goyal et al (2005) explained the following concept:
CPF (Clothing Protection Factor): It is more commonly displayed as
UPF (Ultra Violet Factor) on clothing. Clothing does not always provide as much
sun protection as people believe. Protection varies with weave, Fabric, Color,
wetness or dryness, the number of washes a garment has pad, elasticity and composition.
UPF (Ultraviolet
Protection Factor):
This value is measure of UVR protection provided by a fabric. The UPF is
calculated as follows: assuming that the unpigmented skin of a person reddens
after 12 minutes exposure to the non day sun. When wearing a garment with UPF
30, the same person will be able to spend 30*12=360 min or 6 hours in the same
noonday sun before suffering the same amount of sunburn (or receiving the same
amount of UVR). UPF ratings are determined by testing fabric in a laboratory in
accordance with Australian Standard AS/NZS4399:1996
