Protective clothing and equipment are incredibly important for employees’ safety. But with a plethora of products on the market, how do you tell the good from the bad?
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is the first and most vital layer of protection for oil and gas workers in the field. Designed to act as a shield against a wide range of occupational hazards, they vary in properties and types with the most common being flame resistant safety apparel.
“Flame Resistant (FR) PPE is a form of protective equipment worn by personnel working in environments where they are likely to be exposed to extreme heat or flames like in oil and gas,” says Caroline Fischer, business unit manager for protective clothing at Kermel.
Historically, flame resistant apparel was made from treated cotton, which interestingly enough, was first developed in the US to provide protection against chemicals in agricultural projects. Then it became the material of choice for safety industrial equipment including oil and gas.
In recent years, however, the true revolutionary force in the industrial textile market has been aramide fibre. Designed to provide more robust and longer lasting protection against fire, aramide fibre was the result of collaborative research and development by a number of teams from various global locations.
“The teams’ main objective was to create a special fibre capable of enhancing the physical properties of nylon by altering the molecular structure to create an inherently fire resistant fibre,” explains Fischer.
“Inherent means innate which is actually the same as saying ‘the unique qualities one is born with’, for example one’s DNA. When a fabric is inherently flame resistant, the flame resistance properties exist within the natural structure of the fabric.”
Garments also have to meet a number of European and international standards and increasingly oil and gas companies are asking for certifications and proof of quality, Fischer says.
Some of the most common types of PPE are designed to provide protection against flash fire, electrostatic discharge, harsh weather conditions or high visibility. In addition to these, companies can request their own, customised protective apparel to address the specific challenges in different regions.
“We are able to develop brand new products in terms of yarns, fabrics, knits or protective clothing to meet a specific request from a purchaser or end-user,” said Fischer.
In the Middle East, the most sought after products are light in weight and have cooling properties, according to experts.
DuPont is one of the companies headquartered in the US with a strong market base in the region. In response to its customers’ needs it has created its own line of personal protective clothing called Nomex.
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“Our region is hot and humid, so we came up with the lowest possible weight with the highest possible protection that is comfortable and durable and this is the best combination that you can actually have.
“A typical long-sleeve, cotton shirt weighs a little bit more than 150 grams. Our coveralls are very close to this weight,” says Amr Al Moniem, general manager of DuPont Gulf.
“[Nomex] meets the standards of the American National Fire Protection Association, meaning it provides escape time of three to five seconds and ensures that total injury body level does not exceed 50% including third degree burns,” Moniem adds.
Research suggests the number of injuries caused by flash fire and electric arc flash — two of the most common hazards in the upstream oil and gas sector — have increased significantly in recent times.
“You have a leakage somewhere, a spark happens, a static charge builds up and then all of a sudden you have a flash fire that goes between three and five seconds,” says Moniem.
“If you were wearing a normal cotton polyester shirt and God forbid flash fire happens, it will stick to the body and it will keep burning; and even if you try to take it off, you will not be able to. It will continue to burn your skin and that’s what causes the third degree body burn, which after a certain percentage can cause fatality.
“Nomex behaves in a different way. It is an intelligent fibre. It does not melt, it does not drip, it entraps air as it gets exposed to fire and you are able to take it off immediately.”
DuPont’s Nomex, like most recent products on the market, is a type of aramide, which makes it much more effective compared to its treated counterparts, experts argue.
“Aramide fibre has inherent thermal resistance properties, while treated cotton is simply, as the name suggests, treated,” says Fischer. Once exposed to fire, treated cotton PPE would lose 30% of its finished material weight and with that its protective qualities would wear off.
On the other hand, the combination of fibres used to develop aramide are inherently flame resistant and provide permanent protection against fire, she explains.
“Aramide … has other beneficial properties such as great strength and resistance from abrasion. This would make aramide fibre better than treated cotton which is actually ammonia cured,” she adds.
Treated fabric implies that the fibres or combination of fibres used to make the fabric have been subjected to one form or another of chemical treatment to make them flame-resistant. The treated fabric has undergone a chemical process to give it fire resistant properties. It will not burn after treatment but will surely catch fire when the treatment is removed,” Fischer explains.
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Very much agreeing with Fischer, Moniem argues: “You can treat cotton by putting a chemical on it but you can never be sure if the chemical application has been done correctly because it differs depending on the cotton, quality, the manufacturer and the hazard itself. You can wash it off and you would never be able to tell; there is no way to re-certify it and re-apply it, in this region at least.”
Furthermore, he adds, not only can treated cotton prove ineffective, but in doing so, it can constitute an extra and often unforseen hazard to workers wellbeing itself.
“… in order for it to have effective non- inherent flame resistant characteristics [you need] to apply very high weight on the cotton to make sure it absorbs all chemicals so you go beyond 320 grams.
“Let’s suppose I am working on a rig and I am putting a lot of work in and my coverall is heavy. I will start to sweat and in order to cool down the first thing I would do is open the zipper.”
In other cases, Moniem says, workers would roll up their sleeves or even worse- take their protective equipment
off.
“This is something very dangerous because they are no longer protected, they are exposed; the ‘shell’ is not there anymore.”
Heat stress is another major health and safety consideration, particularly here in the Middle East. It was with the idea to directly address this hazard, that TechNiche developed an innovative type of PPE.
“HyperKewl evaporative cooling material is a unique fabric that absorbs and slowly releases water through evaporation protecting the wearer against heat stress,” says Paul Gilligan, general manager, Rapid-EPS, Middle East.
After being soaked in water for one to two minutes, it produces a cooling effect that can last up to ten hours, he explains.
Phase Change Material (PCM) system is another type of cooling technology by TechNiche designed to provide protection against heat stress. It uses a non-toxic carbon-based liquid that freezes at 14°C and remains at that temperature for two to three hours.
“Simply place PCM CoolPax inserts in a freezer or ice water for 35-40 minutes and insert into TechKewl garment pockets. JGC/RasGas bought 3000 of these last year and the feedback was very, very positive,” he said.
“We have a range of over 200 products, these were the products JGC/RasGas ordered. Wristbands and neck shades are very useful as those parts of the body regulate the heat.”
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The biggest hit among TechNiche’s products is its cooling sport jacket, with some of its famous wearers the Dutch football team, Spanish professional cyclist Alberto Contador, Ferrari and Mercedes Formula One teams as well as the US Army and RasGas in Qatar, which bought 32,000 of those for their workers at Barzan [field].
“We know our products reduce heat stress in workers and this is an increasingly important topic for the GCC within workers’ welfare. JGC and RasGas improved their heat stress by 50% on the previous year and we know our products played a big part in that and also increased productivity significantly so in the long run, buying these products will save companies money by increasing productivity,” he says.
With awareness, demand in the region has also increased. “We now have distributors in Bahrain, Saudi, UAE, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait who are all stocking products in country ready for the big push in the summer. This is the first year this has been achieved and is being driven by the high demand in the region.”
Chemical exposure is another type of common hazard in the oil and gas industry, that compared to flash fire, requires a different kind of protection.
To address this, and more specifically the risk from chemical exposure to the skin, DuPont developed a type of synthetic material that provides protection against small size hazardous particles.
“For normal non-concentrated harsh chemicals, there is the disposable chemical products made of the Tyvek material, it really protects the workers from the limited splash from non-concentrated harsh chemicals.”
In other cases, much stronger, harsher substances are involved in oil and gas processes, from the likes of the highly dangerous sulphuric acid, mixed up with other chemicals and injected in the well.
“Then you need heavier garments and protection. Unlike the disposables, these go now to the limited use.
“Again, we follow the same principles, the highest protection with the lightest weight,” says Moniem.
In addition to safety clothing, safety accessories are also an important part of oil and gas PPE, ranging from disposable and reusable respirators (pictured left) to hearing protection and protective eye-wear.
But as well as providing the right equipment, health and safety experts believe that oil and gas companies should educate and train their employees building a culture of understanding and compliance.
“I can equip you with a spacesuit or an armour. But it is important that you understand the hazard… it is always a combination of factors making sure that you are addressing the hazard following precautionary measures [and] coming up with the right product that motivates people to wear it,” DuPont’s specialist concluded.
