BSIF Special Interest Groups

The groups are central to the relationship between the Federation and the membership, where networking and the sharing of non-commercial intelligence promotes good practice and better occupational safety and health for all. While much of the workload of the SIGs is often around product standards and the regulatory landscape, the groups also produce very valuable independent guidance designed to help duty holders with information and solutions to their safety and PPE challenges. All of the SIG Guidance is available from the download centre in the BSIF website.

As our membership includes manufacturers, importers, distributors and specialist service providers the groups provide a unique forum facilitating debate across the entire supply chain. The only component that is arguably missing is direct “user opinion” and we are trying to accommodate that through embracing employers and duty holders in our current membership expansion pilot scheme.
The groups will typically meet 3 times per year on a combination of face to face and remote/hybrid sessions. In 2024 there will have been close to 30 SIG meetings attended by up to 600 individuals They are open to all Federation members. 

The SIGs are chaired by individual members who provide a fantastic service for their colleagues across the industry. The groups are defined by their areas of particular interest and include ……

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

I shall try and give a brief overview of the work of each SIG but, in addition, there are some challenges which each group, to a greater or lesser extent are working on, these include but are not limited to issues around inclusivity and sustainability.

The Height Safety Group:
This group has been led for some time by Graham Willmott, driving the need for competency in the industry and we now have many delegates (under the trailblazer initiative) who have commenced industry registration & training through Smart Awards and 8point8 training to achieve the qualification as permanent fall arrest technicians. Standards Working Groups have been writing and revising standards to improve the industry and in particular the BS8681 was published on the 30^th of November 2024. 
The new BS8681 standard will continue the competency improvements in the industry and the BSIF SIG and a wide group of industry experts have a webinar explaining the standard and its’ impacts scheduled to go out in January 2025. This SIG has been an exemplar in the provision of guidance for an industry which they care deeply about. Do please have a look at some of the materials on the BSIF website.

The Test and Certification Association:
The Test and Certification Association, chaired by Nathan Shipley, is the forum which brings together all of the Approved Bodies who are scoped to give decisions enabling PPE to be placed on the GB market under PPE Regulation (EU) 2016/425 and the subsequent UK incarnations. The group is currently 21 strong and the meetings are also attended by representatives of the regulators HSE, Trading Standards and the Department for Business and Trade. UKAS also attends, providing a unique platform for the implementation of the applicable regulations. In addition to those mentioned above the chairs of all of the other SIGs, along with those members of BSIF who have UKAS approved laboratories are welcomed guests at the meetings. This all adds up to an instrument, more wide reaching than ever existed under the EN structures.
So, talking of EN we know that the one time ambition of UKCA replacing CE as the cornerstone of our product safety regime has hit the buffers and while one can still apply UKCA, CE, which gives a much wider market access, has been accepted for the UK ongoing and is now entrenched in law. This chaotic saga has occupied much of the group’s work over the last 3 years and the continued acceptance of CE now undermines the very existence of the “Approved Bodies” who have little or no UKCA demand. This of course extends beyond PPE and the entire UK product certification industry is under existential threat, due to our European exit and the failure to accommodate these elements in the UK/EU withdrawal agreement. 

The Eye Face Head and Hearing Group:
This is one of the SGs which embraces and looks after the interests of a range of complementary products. Not only are these products worn in close physical proximity they are often used as ensembles and can be required to be “approved” for use in combination. So, while it is a combined group there are specified rapporteurs from head, face, hearing and eye categories who attend and report back on the happenings at the relevant UK and International standards meetings. In the last 2 years we have seen major developments in hearing standards and significant debate on the value of “fit testing” for hearing protection. Recently we saw the launching of EN16321 to replace the long established EN166. This new standard takes the market forward but, it also introduces some new test methods which has necessitated a longer than normal transition period to allow testing capacity to become established. Head protection, from a standards view point has been quieter but action has still been undertaken engaging with stakeholders specifically on equestrian headgear. This group has in the past produced fantastic hearing guidance “Listen Today – Hear Tomorrow” and essential support pieces on approvals of ensembles such as head and hearing protection in combination “Just because it Fits”. The group is chaired by Mo Saleem.
 

The Respiratory Protection Group:

Mike Clayton has chaired this group over many years and his dedication and expertise is a major component of the group’s success. Always a key working group but with a higher profile than ever following the PPE challenges during and since the pandemic. The pandemic saw ear loop FFP respirators arrive on our shores (I think) for the first time. They have had safety warnings placed against them by the HSE and in early 2024 the Department for Business and Trade restricted their approval under EN149 as designated by the UK which along with the restriction meaning that the EN standard is no longer aligned these products can no longer be placed on the market under EN149. 
Members of the SIG also worked diligently on the ISO committee attempting to provide a standard for an “Infection Control” mask.
The Respiratory SIG has worked for much of the year on the updating of Clean Air Take Care which we hope to see re-launched in early 2024. This key guidance is aimed at supporting and informing duty holders who have specified RPE as part of their risk mitigation.
The RPE SIG has strong relationships with other stakeholder groups such as the International Society for Respiratory Protection and indeed the Fit2Fit competency assessment community. Respiratory protection as evidenced by recent HSE statistics is a very serious challenge in occupational health and the SIG plays a major part helping to make a difference.

The Spill Prevention and Control Group:

The Spill prevention group is somewhat different to other SIGs not least because its first consideration is environment and not safety, as such. Here the regulator is the Environment Agency (EA) as opposed to the HSE but again I’m pleased that representative from the EA attend and contribute to the work of the group. Very much along the lines of the Height Safety Group the “Spills” SIG is focussed on competency and promotes and runs the BSIF approved “First Responders to Liquid Spills” qualification. This course also carries CPD approvals and it will in the future be complimented by an approved “Hazmat Awareness” qualification.

The group are working on the publication of further support through Environmental Safeguarding Advice (ESA) where we will eventually have 11 sector specific ESAs which will replace the original Pollution Prevention Guidance published by the EA. In the Spills sector there are not EU product standards but there exist British Standards where the group contribute. This SIG has been chaired for many years by Miles Hillmann who retired at the end of the summer, 2024.

The Protective Glove and Clothing Group:

As very busy, well attended SIG with a broad scope, covering products from chemical and heat resistant articles to high visibility clothing to hand protection across a very broad range of hazards. There are a vast range of standards that affect these product categories and many of the products are themselves subject to multiple individual standards all of which are subject to review at different times.
The group is led by Ross Constable and has over the years provided guidance covering diverse topics from laundering and logos to knife and cut prevention. The group are about to revisit skin protection originally catered for in the “In Your Hands” publication. Amongst other risks to the skin the guidance will focus on prevention of harm caused by UV radiation. Inclusivity and diversity provision is high on the agenda for the Glove and Clothing group.

The Electrical Hazard Group:

The Electrical Hazard Group was launched for the first time in 2024 and such is the appetite for improvement in this area it has met 3 times since May ’24. While many of the other SIGs are defined by product type this group covers all products in the field where the hazard exists. 
The group seeks to address issues across electrical arc flash, electrical shock protection (where there is exposure to AC and or DC current) and electrical hazard protection. The range of injuries that can occur in this area are varied and they can be significant leading to fatalities and major fire incidents.
It is fair to say that this is an area where as BSIF we had some knowledge gaps which are now filled through the leadership of Ian and Adrian Thorp. In addition to some of the items referenced above there is an ingoing challenge to recognise insulating tools sold with very specific personal protective claims to be recognised and included within the PPE regulation. 

The Safety Footwear Group:

Safety footwear is perhaps the largest single PPE product category in the market at this time and our SIG has been extremely active over recent years in dealing with the challenges of diversity and inclusion with some fantastic female specific products coming on to the market in response to the needs of our diverse workforce.
The group led for several years by Lloyd Preston has also provided thought leadership and key corrective direction on the categorisation of safety footwear which provides claims of protection from electrical hazard. The work done in this area, supported by the HSE has been more than effective in alerting duty holders to the information and limitations on product that they are specifying. The SIG has in the past been responsible for the “Jargon Buster” which explains the array of markings that accompany footwear. Another key value adding active special interest group. 
Safety Footwear seems to be plagued more than some other PPE categories by unsafe product sold through online marketplaces. The article on the Registered Safety Supplier Scheme goes into more detail on this but it is noteworthy to see the volume of supposed “safety” footwear available online. BSIF has over the past year been successful in removing some of the offending product from sale.

The Measurement and Instrumentation Group:

The measurement and Instrumentation Group deals with safety product other than PPE, product which is essential in effective risk assessment and safety management. As the title suggests the products will measure the level of hazards such as noise, dust and other contaminants including the presence of gases and allow mitigation to be put in place.
In the past the group has focused on gas detection and the need for equipment testing. Moving into the future months it will look to update guidance on managing hand and vibration risks (HAVs). 
HAVs as an occupational disease, does not appear to have the same profile as it once had within HSE reporting but it remains an area of acute concern and much can be done to manage and mitigate the risks in this area.

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