Effects Of Laundering Flame Resistant Garments
We get asked the question a lot concerning if you can “wash out” the flame resistant protection from your FR garments. The answer is that it depends.
Most FR fabrics made these days and especially the products we sell the FR properties cannot be washed out. There may be other fabrics out on the market that are topically treated and the FR properties can wash out so you have to be careful.
To be sure what you have to do is ensure your are buying good quality brand name products and that the fabric used has been approved by third party independent laboratory testing facilities. A few brand names you might consider are Bulwark Protective Apparel, Workrite and Topps Safety Apparel and a couple examples of fabrics that are very trustworthy are Nomex and Indura.
The other common question is “Can I wash my FR garments at home?”
The answer to this question is yes you can as long as you follow the correct procedure such as:
- Wash FR garments separately from standard clothing.
- Do not use chlorine bleach or fabric softener.
- Make sure FR garments are clean and in proper repair before each wearing.
- Remove oils and flammable contaminants from FR garments. Flammable contaminants may act as a fuel source, increasing the potential severity of a burn injury.
- Repair garments using “like materials.” Use FR fabric, thread and garment components. Return garments to the manufacturer for repair, or use an authorized FR repair facility.
Terry Smeader
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Tags: Bulwark, Flame Resistant, Indura, Laundering FR Garments, Nomex
