BSIF Special Interest Groups

SIG PARTICIPATION is open to all members bringing together the entire PPE and safety supply chain, from manufacturers and importers though to distributors serving the end users. Through participation in the SIGs an individual can be nominated through to the BSI PH committees ensuring that they also have the opportunity to influence standards in development. From the PH committees an individual can also participate in the CEN and ISO international committee structures 

SIGs have become part of our DNA and meet up to three times a year. The pandemic brought face to face meetings to an abrupt halt in 2020 creating a new normal of remote meetings, which continued throughout 2021. Online meetings should not be viewed as a replacement for face to face, even with all the flexibility that they offer you still miss much of the communication and, spontaneity can also be compromised, meaning the experience is often somewhat shallow and less rewarding than physical meetings. That said as we approach 2022, the SIGs will continue to utilise remote platforms but with a blend of face to face and remote access participation. 

One very positive output from having the opportunity to participate on line was the increase in the number of attendees taking part in each meeting, that indeed was pleasing..

The SIGs that operate within BSIF are defined by specific areas of interest be that driven by product type or by area of risk. The SIGs are: 

• The Height Safety Group
• The Respiratory Protection Group
• The Eye Face, Head and Hearing
• The Measurement and Instrumentation Group
• The Safety Footwear Group
• The Spill Containment and Control Group
• The Protective Glove and Clothing Group
• The Test and Certification Association

The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed that they are all “Groups” with the exception of the Test and Certification Association. Membership of the Test and Certification Association is restricted to member companies who are Approved Bodies scoped for PPE under Regulation (EU) 2016/425 as incorporated into UK law and in addition participation in this group is also open to members with UKAS Accredited Laboratories. 

Apart from the Test and Certification Group the SIGs welcome everyone from the BSIF membership who has an interest in that area. We encourage all to join the meetings, and to give a flavour, set out below is a brief look back at the SIG goings on in 2021.

The Safety Footwear SIG

Under the Leadership of the new Chair the group met a total of 5 times during 2021 with an average attendance of 29 members, all via remote links. This group has an active workload on standards and specifications but found the capacity to produce the Safety Footwear “Jargon Buster” to aid marketplace understanding and demystify the terminology used. This document was received enthusiastically during the Health and Safety Event at the NEC in September.

The group have begun to take on the challenge of electrical hazards and appropriate footwear. This hazard category does deserve more scrutiny for the future and this will be addressed.

Picture of the footwear chart goes here

The Height Safety SIG

Height Safety and safety management in this discipline is a very technical area. While PPE has an obvious role to play much of the science surrounds installation and access requirements and the specification of projects. This group benefits from some hugely committed, capable individuals, highly qualified and experienced in their field. 2021 was indeed a very busy year with the launching of a dedicated Height Safety Group website aimed at end users and packed full of useful information and resource. Please have a look for yourself by visiting https://www.bsif-heightsafetygroup.org/

In addition to the launching of the new website the group produced 2 detailed guidance documents to assist the market in the implementation of the standards BS13700 and BS7883. The BSIF Height Safety Group is a very busy and a very productive SIG.

The Respiratory Protection SIG

As you can probably envisage this SIG were absolutely front and centre of the respiratory protective equipment chaos experienced at the height of the pandemic in 2020, including the impacts of the Regulatory Easements and the challenges created by non-conforming masks and the wearing and specifying of community face coverings. 2021 saw a leveling off, in some sense however, there are still issues of concern from 2020 which are remain unresolved, such as the use of filtering face pieces which are held in place by ear loops instead of the specified “head harness”. This problem area is still under consideration by the HSE and we would expect them to publish their position imminently. The SIG met 4 times in the year with an average attendance of 28 people.

Protective Glove and Clothing SIG

A group with a wide product range, covering a vast array of hazard and risks and a sector of great interest across the BSIF membership. This SIG deals with a huge bank of product standards with some items of technical workwear requiring certification to multiple standards. The group has been fortunate to benefit over the years from the input of rapporteurs from national and international standards committees, who have done a magnificent job in keeping us up to speed in this very complex area. The group met 3 times in ’21 with attendance averaging at 45!

The Glove and Clothing Group have also been responsible for very successful campaigns in the past and during 2021 created further pieces of guidance on Knife Injury Prevention and advice in the area of logos and alterations on protective clothing.

Eye, Face, Head and Hearing SIG

Another combined group where the product ranges tend to be complementary or can be used in combination. This SIG while remaining a combined group under the chairman will, going forward, have dedicated leads in all specific elements of the group’s remit, being Eye and Face, Head and of course Hearing. This is an exciting development enabling more focus evenly spread across the product groups. SIG’s work is often dictated by standards currently being worked upon and in 2021 we had on major revisions reported on for EN 352 in hearing. The question of PPE for children’s hearing has yet to be resolved at the European level.

Spill Control and Containment SIG

The Spills Group progressed a major project in the publication of a range of guidance documents previously managed by the Environment Agency. This suite of advisory documents “Environmental Safeguarding Advice” (ESA) comprise 11 elements and the group published 5 during 2021. This was a major step forward and the result of a great deal of work done by experts within the team. The ESAs can be downloaded (as can all BSIF’s valuable market guidance) at https://www.bsif.co.uk/downloads-centre-2/

The group also added the Water Pollution Protection award to the range of BSIF Awards with congratulations going to the inaugural winners, The River and Canal Trust and Loughborough University. Spills and the potential effect on the environment remain an important element of a holistic approach to safety ad we encourage more involvement where possible in this important trailblazing SIG.

Test and Certification Association

The Test and Certification Association comprises (now under the new UKCA regime) all of the Approved Bodies scoped by the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy to provide approval decision and certification for PPE. The group met many times during the year to work through the implications of the amended Regulation following our departure from the EU. The last 2 years for this group have been traumatic following the PPE Easements of 2020 and the sudden application of the UKCA regime. One of the changes created by the UK amending of the PPE Regulation is that there is no mandate from the Secretary of State for coordination by the Approved Bodies. However, there is a desperate need for that to happen. The government departments actually do not have a title for the Regulation and there are multiple areas of interpretation where consistency should indeed be applied. We know that the amended Regulation created UK Designated Standards but that process, despite promises to the contrary, is unnecessarily opaque.

The system EU system on RfUs will not apply automatically and the group will create BSIF UK Approved Body “positions” to fill the gap. The Approved Bodies automatically appointed at the start of 2020 are being added to by European Notified Bodies setting up in the UK to provide certification services. To date some 3 have entered the UK market.

I wanted to make you aware of another key change that we have made to the constitution of the Test and Certification Group. That is, all of the other Chairs of the PPE focussed SIG’s will now join and participate, representing the views of manufacturers and users. This is a key development designed to further make the UK Certification process as inclusive and effective as possible.

The work of the Test and Certification SIG is vital to the effective running of the UK Product Safety Framework. For information this group actually got together 8 times during 2021 reflecting the work required to, quite frankly, fill the gaps in government advice.

What’s Next
BSIF will create a new Special Interest Group dedicated to the topic of Sustainability. Sustainability, Net Zero and the environmental challenges will have to be front and centre of the industry’s thinking from here on. Our challenge is to effectively scope and define what it means in the context of PPE and Safety. Many businesses across the markets appear to be promoting claims that are at best unsubstantiated and tantamount to “greenwashing”. It is important that BSIF and the membership establish clear understanding and go forward with a defendable platform. We will have more news on this initiative as soon as possible.

For more information, visit www.bsif.co.uk