European and international PPE footwear standards updated

Revised standards for safety and occupational footwear have been announced by CEN – the European standards organisation – and the International Standards Organisation, ISO.
Several projects under personal protective equipment (PPE) standards joint technical committees CEN/TC 161 and ISO TC 94/SC 3 have recently been completed with the publication of new versions of the following footwear standards in 2011:

• EN ISO 20345 – PPE – Safety footwear
• EN ISO 20347 – PPE – Occupational footwear
• EN ISO 20344 – PPE – Test methods for footwear
• EN 15090 – Firefighters’ footwear

Note: individual European Member States have six months to publish their own national versions.

Work is currently ongoing in the area of footwear offering resistance to cutting against hand-held chainsaws, and a new draft version of prEN ISO 17249 should soon be released for enquiry. In addition, work on a revision to ISO TR 18690 (a guidance document covering selection use and maintenance) is nearing completion.

Subsequent to a resolution to delete EN ISO 20346 at a plenary meeting of CEN/TC 161 held in November 2010, it was confirmed that this standard is still required by a number of European Member States.

Therefore, a draft revision – prEN ISO 20346 – is to be updated to bring it into line with changes made to EN ISO 20345/7 during 2011. It is anticipated that this new version of EN ISO 20346 should now be published later in 2012.

Please email ppe@satra.co.uk for more information on these standards, and how to get products tested and certified.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 3 of the April 2012 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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