3.6. Protection against heat and/or fire

PPE designed to protect all or a part of the body against the effects of heat and/or fire must possess thermal insulation capacity and mechanical strength appropriate to the foreseeable conditions of use. Constituent materials and other components intended for protection against radiant and convective heat must possess an appropriate coefficient of transmission of incident heat flux and be sufficiently incombustible to preclude any risk of spontaneous ignition under the foreseeable conditions of use. Where the external surface of those materials and components must be reflective, the reflective power must be appropriate to the intensity of the heat flux due to radiation in the infrared range. Materials and other components of equipment intended for brief use in high-temperature environments and of PPE which may be splashed by hot products such as molten material must also possess sufficient thermal capacity to retain most of the stored heat until after the user has left the danger area and removed the PPE. PPE materials and other components which may be splashed by hot products must also possess sufficient mechanical-impact absorbency (see point 3.1). PPE materials and other components which may accidentally come into contact with flame and those used in the manufacture of industrial or fire-fighting equipment must also possess a degree of non-flammability and thermal or arc heat protection corresponding to the risk class associated with the foreseeable conditions of use. They must not melt when exposed to flames nor contribute to flame propagation. Under the foreseeable conditions of use: the quantity of heat transmitted by PPE to the user must be sufficiently low to prevent the heat accumulated during wear in the part of the body at risk from attaining, under any circumstances, the pain or health impairment threshold; PPE must, if necessary, prevent liquid or steam penetration and must not cause burns resulting from contact between its protective integument and the user. If PPE incorporates refrigeration devices for the absorption of incident heat by means of liquid evaporation or solid sublimation, the design of such devices must be such that any volatile substances released are discharged beyond the outer protective integument and not towards the user. If PPE incorporates a breathing device, that device must adequately fulfil the protective function assigned to it under the foreseeable conditions of use. The manufacturer's instructions accompanying PPE intended for brief use in high-temperature environments must, in particular, provide all relevant data for the determination of the maximum permissible user exposure to the heat transmitted by the equipment when used in accordance with its intended purpose.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-01 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.