The best reason to invest in an FR program: it simply saves lives. For those working in industries that put them at risk of their clothes igniting, FR is a critical component in protection.
The key to FR clothing is that it’s self-extinguishes: The most serious burns in an industrial setting aren’t caused by the actual fire or explosion itself, but by regular workwear (e.g., non-FR cotton, nylon or polyester) igniting and continuing to burn even after the heat source has been removed. The key to FR clothing is that it self-extinguishes. This dramatically reduces the severity of burn injuries and provides the worker valuable escape time to increase the chances of survival.
One electric company reported a total cost off a single burn injury before FR clothing at more than $2 million, and the employee never returned to work; since using a FR clothing, a comparable arc exposure cost less than $50,000, and the employee lost minimal work time.
The importance of FR test: We're often asked why Knox FRC makes the investment to conduct full-scale art flash and flash fire in the real world. And the answer is simple, flame resistant and arc rated clothing can be a life and death difference and seeing is believing.
Testing these materials perform in the real world is vital to understanding why you need them. The significant majority of fatalities and catastrophic injuries in flash fire and in arc flash are not caused by the initial hazard. They're caused by flammable clothing igniting and continuing to burn and that's an entirely avoidable issue. Don't wear fuel wear flame resistant are created clothing to avoid the catastrophic injury and fatality.
To understand this better we need to take a little bit of a deeper dive into the medical aspects of body burn. The main predictor of survival is TBSA or total body surface area receiving second or third degree burns.
What they have in common: Second and third-degree burn that makes them the same is that they both break the skin. When you break the skin, you have an infection path and they rush you off to the hospital or the burn center where there are more infectious agents than anywhere on earth, including all the antibiotic resistant ones.
So, the greater percentage of your skin service that's broken open is the more likely you are to get that infection and the longer you're in the hospital around those infectious agents. The goal of our graded or flame resistant clothing is to minimize or eliminate second and third-degree burn and make sure that you survive in this exposure.
Knox make this investment in research because you matter and your people matter. Knox is more than a garment provider, we are your partners in safety.
FR clothing that complies with OSHA laws and industry standards:
FR clothing’s primary function is to protect the worker in the event of an accidental exposure, but it can also protect the company as a whole. State and federal OSHA organizations require employers to protect employees from hazards in the workplace. In fact, OSHA has cited and fined numerous companies for not providing FR clothing under section 1910.132, “Occupational Safety and Health Standards: Personal Protective Equipment,” and is likely to add more stringent requirements for FR clothing in future OSHA regulations, including revisions of existing laws.
In addition to these existing laws, numerous industry consensus standards address the need for FR clothing in a variety of industries and environments. Such standards are published by well-respected national organizations, ASTM International and National Fire Protection Associations (NFPA). OSHA bases future laws in part based on published standards, so what is voluntary today may become law tomorrow.