EN 14126 is the standard for clothing for protection against infectious agents. It consists of four tests to assess a fabric’s ability to resist penetration of a bacterial or viral infection in a medium, such as a body fluid or on a contaminated surface. For those involved in selecting work-wear for such protection, understanding this standard is vital.
Protective Clothing
What is the EN 14126 standard test?
The standard contains tests against fabrics only and no testing certification of finished garments. Garment design for infectious agent protection is addressed in the standards that define EN “Types”:
- EN 13034 (for Type 6 protection against Aerosol Sprays),
- EN 13982 (for Type 5 protection against hazardous dry particles), and
- EN 14605 (for Type 3 and 4 protection against jet and shower-type sprays of liquids). These standards define the garment design requirements.
- EN 943 (For Type 1 protection against gases and vapors)
Garments certified to the Type standards AND EN 14126 will be labelled as meeting “Type 6” or Type 3” and have the suffix “–b” added. When you see a garment labelled with “Type 6-b”, it means the garment construction meets the requirements of Type 6 and the “-b” means it is also certified to EN 14126.
Different viral and bacterial infections behave and transmit differently and will use different routes of contamination. Our product selection process utilizes data obtained during testing to identify manufacturers and products that will be suitable for the level of protection required in any given situation. The standard contains four tests, each of which measures resistance against different types of contamination. USPGI uses data from all four tests to determine which products have achieved the highest level of classification. In selecting our products, we look for garments that are not only certified to EN 14126, but have also achieved a good classification in the ISO 16604 test. ISO 16604 is the only test providing a clear indication of effective resistance to penetration of that size of infectious agent.
