Development progresses rapidly in PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) while at the same time demands on the user increases. PPE has gone from providing protection for a specific kind of danger to a situation where PPE is to protect against a number of dangers, multirisks, while still being comfortable to wear. This situation puts high demands on the development of materials and functions in garments for them to match market requirements.

Development of new materials and concepts is costly. The companies working with PPE in Sweden are small and medium-sized and thus do not have the financial resources to do development work on their own. There is also a demand for transfer of knowledge to PPE companies, primarily regarding the demands of the European market and other international markets.

The main objectives for the PPE Competency Center

To create a national competency center for PPE, focusing on textile materials and international penetration. The competency center is to work primarily on the national level while maintaining an international network of contacts. Its primary activities are:
• Developing innovative, marketable products in collaboration with the Swedish textile industry.
• Creating, applying and spreading knowledge about PPE through education and transfer of knowledge
• Promoting collaboration between interested parties in PPE to further economic growth

The effects of these activities will hopefully:
• Create economic growth through transfer of knowledge to and education of producers and users of PPE
• Create economic growth for PPE companies through development of innovative products and materials
• Increased knowledge about PPE through transfer of knowledge and education.
• Increased interaction between actors in the PPE field.

Delimitations

The project is delimited to PPE with textile elements covered by the PPE directive and PPE which is used by the military, the civil defense, in sports, in health care and by the police.

Project organization

The project management group consists of representatives from the SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, SP Certifications, TST Sweden AB, University of Borås, Swerea IVF and the Faculty of Engineering at Lund University.

Project Manager

Peter Löwenhielm, SP Chemistry and Materials
Phone: +4610-516 51 92
Cell phone: +4676-845 53 01
www.sp.se

Project participants

Lennars Aronsson, SP Certification
Phone: +4610 516 52 41
www.sp.se

Per-Arne Andersson, TST-Sweden AB
Phone: +46 320 20 58 86
www.tst-sweden.se

Valter Dejke, Swerea IVF
Phone: +46 31 706 63 52
www.swereaivf.se

Chuansi Gao, Lund University
Phone: +46 46-222 32 06
www.eat.lth.se

Ingvar Holmér, Lund University
Phone: +46 46-222 39 32
www.eat.lth.se

Nils-Krister Persson, Smart Textiles
Phone: +46 33-435 42 83

Fredrik Rassner, Swedish Association for Occupational Safety and Health
Phone: +46 46-222 79 75
www.arbetsliv.org

About PPE

For over three years, the European Commission has identified Personal Protective Equipment and protective wear as an EU lead market initiative and since then, a considerable number of projects, networks and studies have been conducted, covering a broad spectrum of topics such as R&D, innovation, standardization, public sector procurement, education and market access.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) include protective clothes, helmets, protective glasses or other garments designed to protect the wearer from bodily harm caused by blunt objects, electricity, heat, pressure, cold, chemicals, radiation, infection, etc.

The purpose of using PPE is lowering the wearer’s exposure to risk when technical or administrative supervision is unavailable or not effective enough to reduce risk to an acceptable level.