SATRA invests £30K to update laboratory facilities
16 May '09
2 min read
SATRA Technology Centre has invested £30K in updating its laboratory facilities to take into account changes to the European equestrian body protector standard EN 13158:2009.
EN 13158 includes impact performance test methods to simulate impact due to falls and kicks from horses. A new environmental chamber has been built specifically to accommodate the impact machine required to test the garment protective padding.
The protective qualities of many impact materials used in equestrian body protectors can be affected by temperature, and very tightly controlled laboratory conditions are required in order to check the materials meet the requirements of the standard.
The new SATRA chamber not only houses the nine foot tall test rig but also controls both temperature and humidity to very exacting requirements to provide conditions of 20 +/- 2 deg C and 65 +/- 5 % relative humidity, and the high temperature conditions of 30 +/- 2 deg C and 37 +/- 5 % relative humidity as required by the standard.
SATRA is able to test all aspects of EN 13158 and carry out EC type examination for CE marking against the PPE Directive. SATRA is also a British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA) approved test house for their BETA body protector scheme.