The demand for flame-resistant (FR) clothing that protects against several hazards is rapidly increasing. Managers in the safety arena are finding that their field employees face more than one hazard throughout the day, and in response, FR fabric manufacturers are developing fabrics that can protect against multiple hazards.
In the FR clothing world, the term “multi-hazard” means the garment or fabric can protect against more than one hazard simultaneously. The most common hazards are flash fire and electric arc flash, but sometimes there is also a need to protect employees from small molten-metal splatter. The ability for fabrics to protect against more than one hazard has been around for years, but until recently, fabrics were typically classified into one hazard category or another depending on where they performed the best. As the fabrics’ protection level against more than one hazard improved, manufacturers started using phrases like “dual-hazard” or “multi-hazard” to differentiate their fabrics from ones that were only designed for single-hazard protection.