When people first start a job and are told they need a certain level of flame protection for their workplace attire, many of them don’t question it too much. They simply buy what’s required of them and move on. Here at FR Outlet, we believe that people should know how safe fire-resistant clothing is, which is why we’ve put together an article reviewing the topic. We hope it helps you learn more about how protected you’ll be when you work near flames and wear fire-resistant clothing.
Shattering the Myth
We’ll begin with breaking down a common misconception of fire-resistant clothing: they aren’t fireproof. They only slow down the spread of fire and don’t completely repel it. That means you still might get burned while using it, but the fire won’t continue to burn. Your clothes won’t melt to your skin, and you won’t become engulfed in flames. While fire-resistant clothing isn’t perfect, it has saved countless lives and prevented many costly hospital visits.
What They Protect Against
Even though this type of clothing won’t protect you against chemical spills, radiation leaks, and most aspects of explosions, it’s effective against standard fires and arc flashes. If your job has you working around those other hazards, you’ll need other forms of PPE.
While all clothing that protects against arc flashes will also protect against fire, not all clothing that protects against fire will also protect against arc flashes. That’s why it’s good to read the label thoroughly when you’re shopping for clothing required by your employer. If you’re looking for professional work attire that protects against both, peruse our catalog of FR work shirts online.
What Causes Them Not To Work
Despite all the protection this type of clothing offers, it’s not very effective if you wear it improperly. Some examples of this are wearing non-FR clothing underneath, leaving lots of skin exposed while wearing it, or using ripped or torn articles of FR clothing. All these scenarios will lead to you getting burned just as severely as if you weren’t wearing any fire-resistant clothing.
What This All Means
How safe fire-resistant clothing is depends entirely on you. Buying FR clothes with higher ratings is all well and good, but if you wear them improperly, they won’t do you much good. As long as you play it safe and remain aware of potential nearby hazards, you should be fine and won’t need to worry about getting horrifically burned.