Personal Protective Equipment | Monthly bulletin | May 2020
The use of respirators in response to Covid-19
The World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending the use of respirator masks with filtration efficiency at least 95% for particles of 0.3 micron diameter during COVID-19. N95 mask respirators should conform with American NIOSH regulation and FFP2 European regulation.
Due to shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic, health authorities worldwide are looking for solutions to increase the manufacture and import of these types of products with the aim of supplying enough materials to hospital staffs and the general public.
Please see the below table summarising recent publications related to respirator masks:
|
Date |
Country/region |
Tittle |
|
08/04/2020 |
Canada |
|
|
20/03/2020 |
Europe |
|
|
27/03/2020 |
France |
Protective Masks: Faced with Coronavirus, Standard Development Bodies Follow Multiple Leads |
|
08/04/2020 |
France |
Info on the AFNOR barrier mask in English-speaking countries |
|
16/04/2020 |
Germany |
|
|
30/03/2020 |
Italy |
|
|
26/03/2020 |
Spain |
|
|
01/04/2020 |
UK |
Research: review of personal protective equipment provided in health care settings to manage risk during the coronavirus outbreak |
|
05/04/2020 |
US |
|
|
06/04/2020 |
WHO |
Standard updates
Please see below a table summarising some recent standards updates and upcoming dates of withdrawal (non-exhaustive):
(*) Date of withdrawal: latest date by which national standards conflicting with an EN (and HD for CENELEC) have to be withdrawn.
|
Reference |
Title |
Date of Withdrawal (*) |
Supersedes |
|
Protective garments for motorcycle riders - Part 1: Test methods |
2023-03-31 |
||
|
Mountaineering equipment - Individual safety systems for rope courses - Safety requirements and test methods |
2020-09-30 |
|
|
|
Eye and face protection - Test methods - Part 1: Geometrical optical properties (ISO 18526-1:2020) |
2020-09-30 |
|
|
|
Eye and face protection - Test methods - Part 2 : Physical optical properties (ISO 18526-2:2020) |
2020-09-30 |
|
Regulatory proposals notified to WTO
Please see the below table summarising the most recent notifications made to the World Trade Organization (WTO) (non-exhaustive):
|
Notification number |
Countries |
Title |
|
Canada |
Expedited access to disinfectants, hand sanitizers and personal protective equipment to help limit the spread of COVID-19, as well as swabs for testing
In light of the unprecedented demand and urgent need for products that can help limit the spread of COVID-19, Health Canada is facilitating access to products that may not fully meet current regulatory requirements, as an interim measure |
Below you will find a monthly summary of product recalls and alerts in Europe (Source “RAPEX”).
Europe
RAPEX (European Commission Rapid Alert System for dangerous non-food products – Alerts reported by EU national authorities).
The following 4 alerts regarding Personal Protective equipment have been reported, from week 12 to week 15 of 2020.
|
Type of Risk |
Countries |
Notes |
|
Chemicals |
3 |
Work gloves:
The gloves do not comply with the Personal Protective Equipment and REACH Regulations and national legislation |
|
Injuries |
1 |
Sunglasses:
The sunglasses have a category 4 protection filter but the labelling indicates category 3 Sunglasses do not comply with the Protective Equipment Regulation and the relevant European standard EN ISO 12312 |
