Personal protective equipment (PPE) serves to protect workers in industry, agriculture, construction and other settings. This equipment must have characteristics that afford protection for the worker in specific situations as well as properties that make it comfortable to wear and more durable. Several types of raw materials are used for manufacturing protective gloves, clothing, and footwear, such as leather, reconstituted leather, textiles, non-textiles, polymers, elastomers and synthetic laminates, among others.

IPT offers several physicomechanical, chemical, thermal, electrical, and (under implementation) biological tests to evaluate ready-to-wear PPE, as well as their raw materials and components. The parameters of strength and protection of these materials can be characterized or verified prior to their use, and the characteristics of comfort and aging can be verified in the finished product or during its processing. These tests are based on national and international standards or on methods developed according to the clients’ needs.

The tests offered are:

• Tests on PPE – Personal Protective Equipment – shoes: safety, protection, occupational, antistatic, conductive, and fireman shoes, safety shoes for hazardous environments (heat and cold); waterproof shoes, for protection against molten metal in foundries, for chemical hazards, as well as non-slip or anti-slide shoes.
• PPE tests – gloves and clothing – protective gloves against mechanical, chemical, thermal, and electrical risks; simple, surgical and non-surgical medical gloves; gloves made from a variety of materials (leather, fabric, Kevlar, aramid fiber, PVC, nitrile rubber, natural rubber, etc.), protective clothing and overalls for welding and similar activities, protective wear for thermal hazards, mechanical hazards, against cuts from manual knives, waterproof protective wear, and rain coats.
• Dimensional tests – verification of thickness of materials, product dimensions (length, width, shank height, sizes of shoes, gloves and protective apparel), material grammage, weight, and density.