EN 17353:2020 Released for Protective Clothing – Enhanced Visibility Equipment for Medium Risk Situations

EN 17353:2020 – Protective clothing – Enhanced visibility equipment for medium risk situations – Test methods and requirements, supersedes two separate standards and brings together elements of each of the withdrawn standards:

• EN 1150:1999 – Protective clothing – Visibility clothing for non-professional use – Test methods and requirements
• EN 13356:2001 – Visibility accessories for non-professional use – Test methods and requirements

All products meeting the requirements of the standard are no longer considered in terms of their use, but rather their suitability in providing protection in medium risk situations as defined by their enhanced visibility properties.

 The EN 17353 standard is applicable to clothing and devices worn in medium risk situations such as working with slow-moving vehicles, jogging on roads with lower traffic speeds, or cycling. It sets forth the minimum amounts of materials that should be incorporated into products in order to ensure enhanced visibility on an end user. The standard also describes the design requirements for various types of products based on the foreseeable conditions of use by Type “A”, “B” and “AB”.

Type A – Equipment worn by users where the risk of not being seen exists only at daylight conditions. This equipment uses only the fluorescent material as an enhanced visibility component.

Type B – Equipment worn by users where risk of not being seen exists only at dark conditions. This equipment uses only the retroreflective material as an enhanced visibility component. Including:

• Type B1 – free hanging retroreflective devices
• Type B2 – retroreflective devices temporarily or permanently placed on limbs only
• Type B3 – retroreflective material placed on torso or torso and limbs

Type AB – Equipment worn by users where risk of not being seen exists during daylight, twilight and dark conditions. This equipment uses the fluorescent as well as the retroreflective and/or combined performance materials as enhanced visibility components.

However, the EN 17353 standard is not applicable to:

• High visibility equipment in high-risk situations, which is covered in EN ISO 20471;
• Visibility equipment specifically intended for the head, hands, and feet, e.g. helmets, gloves and shoes;
• Equipment integrating active lighting, e.g. LEDs;
• Visibility for low-risk situations.

All products subjected to EN 17353:2020 are considered as Category II Personal Protective Equipment according to (EU) 2016/425 and requires an EU Notified body to undergo a CE compliance assessment procedure in order to be marketed with the CE mark.

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Reference

1. EN 17353:2020

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