Do you work with liquid chemicals and are your employees at risk of coming into contact with these? Then you are probably looking for work clothing that meets the EN 13034 standard. This standard is about protection against liquid chemicals, spatter from liquid chemicals to be precise. An important nuance that already illustrates that the EN 13034 standard is one of the more complex standards. So it is high time for some clarification.

WHAT CHEMICALS IS THE EN 13034 STANDARD ABOUT?

Within the EN 13034 standard, the fabric of clothing must be tested for protection against spatter of four liquid chemicals:

sulfuric acid (dissolved in water with a concentration of 30%)
caustic soda (dissolved in water with a concentration of 20%)
o-xylene
butanol

These are fairly common chemicals that are often used in practice. Generally speaking, work clothing with the EN 13034 standard offers sufficient protection against all acids and alkalis (also called bases) that are dissolved in water.

The temperature of the chemicals is 20ºC while testing, with a margin of 2ºC. The test determines two properties: 1) how much chemical liquid is repelled by the fabric and 2) the percentage of the liquid the fabric lets through in one minute. The criteria for the repellent capacity and the permeability of the fabric are displayed in the table below.

Class	Repellent capacitu
1	>80%
2	>90%
3	>95%

Class	Permeability
1	<10%
2	<5%
3	<1%

What makes the EN 13034 standard special is that the chemicals test only needs to be passed for one of the four liquid chemicals. However, the test is usually passed for two of these chemicals, namely sulfuric acid and caustic soda. So what about the other two and the millions of other chemicals in existence? So standardised, the EN 13034 has a limitation, and people are generally not very aware of this.

LIMITATION OF THE EN 13034 STANDARD

How do you know whether the work clothing you purchase offers the right protection for your application. It may happen that you work with other chemical substances than the substances that were tested. Look at petrochemistry, for instance. In a refinery, we work with petroleum products, which the clothing is not tested for. That is why we recommend customers in the chemical industry to always identify what specific chemicals their employees may come into contact with. Then, if necessary, you can have an additional test performed.

MULTI-STANDARD CLOTHING FROM TRICORP WITH THE EN 13034 STANDARD

Our work clothing that meets the EN 13034 standard is part of our broad range of multi-standard clothing. Looking for work clothing with high visibility? Then the bicolour multi-standard clothing is recommended. Our multi-standard clothing is available in various sizes, from XS to 7XL. View our range of multi-standard work clothing with the EN 13034 standard here:

Multi-standard overalls
Multi-standard bi-color overalls
Multi-standard parka
Multi-standard bi-color parka
Multi-standard softshell
Multi-standard bi-color softshell
Multi-standard work pants
Multi-standard bi-color work pants

We recommend always wearing 100% cotton clothing underneath your multi-standard clothing.

WASHING MULTI-STANDARD WORK CLOTHING WITH THE EN 13034 STANDARD

The multi-standard clothing from Tricorp can be worn multiple times. The material from our clothing is also tested according to the EN 13034 standard after the fabric has been washed. However, mistakes are sometimes made. That has to do with the component that protective clothing against liquid chemicals owe their protective properties to: fluorocarbon. This is a material that is also used on raincoats, for instance. If you simply wash the work clothing at home, the protective properties of fluorocarbon cannot recover properly. Always have this done by a professional.

TYPE 6 WORK CLOTHING VERSUS TYPE PB6 WORK CLOTHING

The EN 13034 standard is about type 6 clothing and type PB6 clothing. Type 6 is the lowest class in terms of protection against chemicals, because it only covers liquid chemical spatter. Other clothing types are about chemicals in the form of gases or radioactive particles, for instance. The greater the risk, the higher the type (whereby type 1 is the highest) and the stricter the requirements.

The only difference between type 6 and type PB6 is that type 6 clothing has passed one additional test. This is the so-called mannequin test, also known as the modified spray test. The test is meant to determine whether the clothing construction (so not just the fabric) is resistant to splashing chemicals. A test person puts on the clothing and is sprayed with dyed water. Then, it is determined whether that water penetrates the clothing.

The mannequin test is not mandatory. There are special garments, such as parkas, with which you cannot perform this test. If this test is not performed or not passed, the work clothing is deemed to be type PB6, provided that the other required tests have been passed. This way, the industry is allowed to offer single pieces of clothing (which are not necessarily overalls or a combination of a pants and jacket) that still fall under the EN 13034 standard.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS WITHIN THE 13034 STANDARD

In addition to the chemicals test, there are a few other required tests that apply for the EN 13034 standard, but are described in the EN 14325 standard. This standard describes the test methods for the materials and seams of protective clothing against liquid chemicals in detail. The tests revolve around abrasion resistance, tensile strength, tear resistance and puncture resistance. At least the lowest performance level must be achieved here.