British Standards
In the historical absence of appropriate national or international standards for hand protection, the UK military traditionally relied on its own performance standards, usually referred to as UK/SCs. With the introduction in the 1990s of European Standards for Personal Protective Equipment in the industrial environment, the UK Ministry of Defence began the process of moving away from its own performance standards and utilising European Standards where appropriate.
The principal European Standards (incorporated as British Standards) on which the UK military and fire service relies are:
- BS EN 388 : 2003 Protective gloves against mechanical risks
- BS EN 407 : 2003 Protective gloves against thermal risks (heat or fire)
- BS EN 659 : 2003 Protective gloves for firefighters
The exemption of the police service (and the military) from the application of the (European) Personal Protective Equipment Directive means that, for a number of years, compliance with the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations in the UK was effectively voluntary for the police service, although manufacturers produced CE-marked gloves for the police to facilitate selection and purchasing. Compliance with the Regulations, which require employers to supply appropriate CE-marked personal protective equipment, became mandatory with the Police (Health and Safety) Act 1997. Following the introduction of the Act, a sub-committee (PH3/12) of the British Standards Institution prepared a suite of standards for personal protective equipment for police personnel (and “civilian” employees facing similar hazards), including the following two standards which relate specifically to hand protection:
- BS 7971-6 : 2003 Gloves for protection against mechanical, thermal and chemical hazards
- BS 7971-7 : 2003 Slash-resistant gloves
Despite the secondment of police personnel from various forces and branches therein to the sub-committee and its constituent working groups which produced the above standards, the Home Office remained unconvinced that those standards responded effectively to its perceived operational requirements and instructed its Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB) to draft its own standards for a range of protective equipments. Glove are included, by implication rather than express inclusion, in its published standard for slash-resistant clothing: Slash Resistant Standard for UK Police (2006).
