Flash fire — oil, gas and petrochemical
A short, intense flash of flame and radiant heat from a release that ignites. Coverall fabrics are judged on how much heat they let through and whether they keep burning after the flame is gone.
Resources
How our yarn and fabric are tested
A standard is only useful if you know what it measured. This page takes the hazards first — what actually happens to the person wearing the fabric — and then names the standard, the test and the result you should expect to see on a report.
Start from the hazard
Five hazards, and the standards that answer them
Each card names the hazard, what the test has to prove, and the standards a buyer in that industry will ask for.
Structural firefighting
Sustained flame, conducted heat and steam inside turnout gear. The fabric has to hold its structure in a multi-layer assembly and survive repeated laundering.
Welding and molten metal
Spatter, molten droplets and hot contact. The test is about resistance to small molten particles and to radiant heat, and about the surface letting metal run off rather than hold it.
Electric arc
An arc delivers radiant heat in a burst, and any fabric that melts adds a burn on top of the burn. Arc-rated clothing is rated in cal/cm², not by fibre content.
Cut and mechanical hazard
Blade and edge contact against the hand, arm or body. Cut performance is measured on a defined machine with a defined blade, which is why the level is quoted with the standard it came from.
The register
Every standard we work to
Grouped by where the standard comes from. Each entry says what the test measures and how it is run. No certificate numbers and no expiry dates are published: the copies travel with the sales documents for your order.
Held certifications
OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100
Textiles tested for harmful substances
Certified — Product Class II
A laboratory screens the finished textile for harmful substances against a published limit list and issues a certificate for the article tested.
ISO 9001:2015
Quality management system
Certified
An audit of the management system behind production, not of the cloth itself: how orders, records, non-conformities and traceability are controlled.
IATF 16949:2016
Automotive quality management system, for the manufacture of polyester and aramid cloth
Certified
European and international standards
EN ISO 11612:2015
Heat and flame protective clothing
Compliant
A clothed mannequin or a specimen is exposed to flame, radiant heat, molten metal or hot contact, and the heat passing through is measured. The result is a set of performance codes rather than a single number.
EN ISO 11611:2015
Welding and allied processes
Compliant
Samples are exposed to a flame and to small molten metal drops. The fabric is judged on whether it keeps burning, whether droplets perforate it, and how much heat reaches the reverse face.
EN ISO 14116:2015
Limited flame spread, materials
Compliant
Limited-flame-spread testing: a small flame is applied to a specimen and the afterflame and afterglow times and the charred area are recorded. It is a material test, not a garment rating.
EN ISO 15025:2016
Limited flame spread, test method
Compliant
The vertical flame test method used by the EN ISO 11611 and 11612 families: a defined flame is applied to the bottom edge of a specimen and the spread and after-burn are timed.
EN ISO 13997
Cut resistance, TDM test method
Compliant
A blade slides across the specimen under a set load at high speed, and the load needed to cut through in a fixed travel is found. Reported as a force in newtons, which is what the higher cut levels are based on.
EN IEC 61482-1-1:2019
Electric arc rating, material
Compliant
An open-arc test: a controlled arc is struck near a specimen and the heat energy it takes to cause a second-degree burn is derived. The output is an arc rating, quoted in cal/cm².
EN 1149-1
Electrostatic properties, antistatic versions
Compliant
A specimen on a rotating stand is charged and the rate at which the charge bleeds away is measured, giving a surface resistivity.
EN 343
Water penetration and breathability
Compliant
Water penetration and water-vapour resistance are tested together, so a fabric that keeps rain out without trapping sweat can be described in one pair of codes.
EN 14325
Chemical protective clothing, materials
Compliant
The material-level method for chemical protective clothing: specimens are challenged with liquids and the permeation, penetration and repellency are graded.
EN 13034
Liquid chemical splash, Type 6
Compliant
The test route for limited liquid-chemical splash protection on the material and seams of the garment.
EN 14605
Liquid chemical jet and spray
Compliant
The test route where a garment has to resist a jet or spray of liquid chemical, not merely a splash.
EN 388:2016+A1:2018
Mechanical risks, protective gloves
Compliant
Mechanical hazards on gloves: abrasion, blade cut, tear and puncture are tested separately, and cut now has two routes — the rotating-blade method and the TDM method for higher-performance materials. Puncture is a different test from cut and its result is a force in newtons.
EN 407:2020
Thermal risks, gloves and arm protection
Compliant
Thermal hazards on gloves and arm protection: flame, contact heat, convective heat, radiant heat, small molten metal and large molten metal are tested, and each gets its own level.
ISO 6941
Vertical flame spread, test method
Compliant
The base vertical flame test method used before a national classification is applied: flame application time, afterflame, afterglow and charred length are recorded.
EN 13773
Flame retardancy of decorative textiles
Compliant
The European test for flame-retardant decorative textiles such as curtains and stage drapes, producing a Class 1 or Class 2 result.
United States standards
ASTM F1506-22
Flame resistant textile materials
Compliant
The North American FR clothing standard: vertical flame testing plus heat-transfer testing plus an arc rating, so a fabric is described on one sheet.
ASTM D6413/D6413M-22
Vertical flame test, textiles
Compliant
The two-second vertical flame test behind most US FR workwear: afterflame, afterglow and char length are measured on a conditioned specimen.
ASTM F1959 / F1959M
Arc rating of materials
Compliant
The open-box arc test on fabric, from which a fabric arc rating in cal/cm² is calculated. It is the US counterpart of the IEC open-arc method.
ASTM F2700
Heat transmission on flame exposure
Compliant
Heat transfer through a fabric under a defined radiant heat exposure, used where a garment has to be described by its thermal performance rather than by its fibre.
ANSI/ISEA 105-2024
Hand and arm protection, cut levels
Compliant
The US hand-protection standard: cut is reported as a level from A1 to A9 based on the load a blade needs to cut through. Cuts toward the hand and cuts toward the body are rated on the same scale.
ANSI/ISEA 138-2019
Glove impact protection
Compliant
Impact protection for gloves: a weighted striker is dropped onto knuckle specimens and the transmitted force is measured and graded 1 to 3.
ASTM E84
Surface burning, building materials
Class A
A surface-burning test for building materials and laminates: flame-spread and smoke-developed indices are produced and the material is given a class.
NFPA 2112
Flash fire protective clothing
Compliant
The North American industrial flash-fire standard: vertical flame, heat transfer, thermal shrinkage and a mannequin test combine into one certified garment specification.
NFPA 701
Flame propagation of textiles and films
Compliant
Flame propagation on textiles and films, tested at 45 degrees in two methods by weight, and widely required for public-building drapery.
16 CFR 1610
Flammability of clothing textiles
Compliant
The US consumer rule for clothing textiles: the fabric is tested and placed in a class, and the class decides how the fabric may be sold.
16 CFR 1615
Children's sleepwear, sizes 0–6X
Compliant
The US mandatory standard for the flammability of children's sleepwear in sizes 0–6X, tested on the finished garment after laundering and with a char-length limit per specimen.
16 CFR 1616
Children's sleepwear, sizes 7–14
Compliant
The same test programme as 16 CFR 1615, applied to children's sleepwear in sizes 7–14.
Chinese national standards
GB/T 5455-2014
Vertical flame spread, textiles
Compliant
The Chinese vertical-burn method for textiles: afterflame, afterglow and damaged length are measured, and the fabric is placed in B1 or B2.
GB 8965.1-2020
Protective clothing — flame retardant, Part 1
Compliant
The Chinese national standard for flame-retardant protective clothing, covering the garment construction as well as the fabric, including performance after repeated laundering.
GB/T 17591-2025
Flame-retardant fabrics, general
Compliant
The Chinese general flame-retardant fabric standard, covering industrial and decorative fabrics and separating permanent, durable and disposable finishes.
Chemical and environmental
REACH (EC) 1907/2006 — SVHC, Article 33
SVHC screening and information transfer
Compliant
A screening of the article against the EU candidate list of substances of very high concern, with the communication duty that follows.
REACH Annex XVII, entry 43
Restricted azo dyes, 22 aromatic amines
Compliant
The restricted aromatic amines under REACH Annex XVII are tested for, because certain azo dyes can release them.
EU RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU, as amended by (EU) 2015/863
Restricted substances, customer-requested test
Compliant
Restricted heavy metals and flame retardants are tested where a customer asks for the electronics-substances route.
Test reports and certificate copies are available from our sales team on request.
Reading a result
Four things a standard name does not tell you
A level belongs to the standard it came from
EN 388 and ANSI/ISEA 105 both grade cut resistance, and their numbers do not convert. A "level 5" means nothing on its own — the standard has to be named with it. The same applies to puncture, which is a separate test from cut and is quoted in newtons rather than as a level.
Most standards are tested on the article, not the fibre
A fibre can pass a vertical flame test and still fail in a garment, because coatings, membranes, seam construction and moisture all change how heat moves through the assembly. Coated, laminated and multi-layer constructions are tested as the assembly they are.
Test reports belong to a production lot
A report describes the material that was tested. Ask for the report for the lot you are buying rather than an undated summary — the report carries the batch and the test conditions, which is what an auditor will want to see.
The garment certificate belongs to the garment maker
We make yarn and fabric, and we supply the test evidence for the material. Where a finished garment carries a certification mark, that certificate belongs to the company that assembled and certified the garment, not to the mill that supplied the cloth.
Ask for the test report for your construction
Tell us the application, the market you are selling into and the standard you have to meet, and we will confirm the construction and the documents that go with it.