Personal Protective Equipment
Personal protective equipment (PPE) consists of tools that protect people from hazards during their work/daily life. They reduce the risk of injury or exposure to harmful substances.
Additional requirements:
- PPE must offer protection against the specific hazard for which it is intended.
- Only PPE with a valid CE marking may be placed on the market.
- A Dutch instruction manual must be included upon delivery.
Furthermore, personal protective equipment is divided into three risk categories. This classification indicates the level of danger the item protects against and the requirements for design, testing, and certification.
Category I Protection against low risks
This PPE is intended for situations where only minimal hazards are present. These are risks that the user can assess well themselves and where the chance of serious injury is small. An example of an item in this category is sunglasses.
Category II Protection against medium risks
This category includes PPE that protects against clearly present risks that can lead to injury, but are not life-threatening. Stricter requirements apply here than in category I, including extensive performance tests to guarantee that the PPE functions reliably in practice.
An example of this is safety glasses.
Category III Protection against high or life-threatening risks
This PPE must offer protection in situations where an error can directly lead to serious injury or death. The items must therefore meet the highest quality requirements and are subjected to strict inspection and extensive certification.
An example of this is a harness belt.
PPE in Category III is closely monitored because it is used in very high-risk situations, such as working at height, in confined spaces, or with hazardous substances.
If you want to sell PPE in Category III, you must apply for selling rights for this.