Saxon Textile Research Institute e.V. (STFI)
Protective textiles have special requirements and associated properties depending on the area of application. Before the user uses them, many people have a part to play in the provision of these high-tech textile products, starting with the selection of fibers, through the various forms of surface formation, construction and finishing, from design, pattern design and production at the garment manufacturer to the testing laboratories and ultimately also the certification bodies. Accredited by the Central Office of the Federal States for Safety Technology (ZLS) on December 22, 1994, the STFI has been reliably providing certification in the field of protective textiles as Notified Body 0516 for over 30 years.
The first certificate issued at the STFI was for chemical protection. At that time even without a harmonized standard. Since then, several thousand certificates have left the STFI to certify that customers have compliant products for heat, welding, chemical, arc fault and electrostatic protection. The starting point for the certification of protective textiles at STFI is closely interwoven with European economic history. The establishment of the EU’s single market on January 1, 1993 enabled the free movement of goods across national borders. The CE mark is therefore equivalent to a passport for products that meet harmonized safety requirements, including personal protective equipment (PPE). Since July 1, 1995, protective clothing may no longer be sold in Europe without the CE mark. In this context, PPE that protects the wearer from particular hazards must be subjected to an EU type examination by so-called notified bodies.
30 years of the STFI certification body means stable customer relationships as well as evolution. On the one hand, constant innovations in the normative framework determine the protective products. While heat and flame protective clothing was still described on the basis of the purely European standard EN 531 with relatively few parameters at the beginning of certification activities, today the international standard
EN ISO 11612 defines comprehensive testing and evaluation requirements for such textile protective equipment.
On the other hand, completely new protective clothing for highly specialized scenarios is establishing itself on the market, the development of which is accompanied by corresponding test procedures and standards work. This is where the expertise of the STFI’s accredited test center comes into play. The test procedure development team played a key role in shaping the specifications for protective clothing against electric arcs and has been a leading partner to manufacturers of this protective clothing in Germany ever since. The same applies to protective clothing against laser beams, as the STFI created the only available procedure for testing and evaluating this type of protective clothing. Today, protection against process-related UV radiation, such as that generated during welding or UV disinfection in industrial environments, is driving colleagues to develop new products. The degradation behavior of textiles exposed to technical UV radiation has recently been researched, and a test method for the process is also being developed.
Over the years, an internationally respected and sought-after team has grown out of the initial steps to gain customer confidence, advice on the then newly published European standards and a consistent focus on the wishes and needs of customers. STFI provides regular training courses on legal changes to PPE in order to give customers confidence in dealing with the content and requirements of protective clothing standards. Today, customers from all over the world place their trust in the reliability of the STFI when it comes to PPE certification.
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