China has updated its mandatory national standard for high visibility protective clothing – GB 20653-2020.
The standard covers professional use high visibility clothing designed using fluorescent and retroreflective materials. The intention of the clothing it to provide conspicuous warning of the worker in an environment where visibility is poor.
GB 20653-2020 contains provisions relating to classes and design, and the performance of:
- Background materials
- Non-fluorescent and combined materials
- Retroreflective and combined materials
Among the main technical changes are:
Additions:
- Some terms and definitions
- Requirement for measuring an area of high visibility warning clothing and class rating
- Chemical properties requirements and test methods for background and non-fluorescent materials
- Normative Annex D – “positioning of bands of retroreflective material for industrial wash test”
- Informative Annex F – “environment risk level and guidelines for the design of high visibility garments”
Revisions:
- Standard name is updated from ‘High visibility warning clothing for professional use’ to ‘Protective clothing—High visibility warning clothing for professional use’
- Design requirements for warning clothing
- Ergonomic requirements for warning clothing
- Colorfastness requirements for perspiration on background and non-fluorescent materials
- Colorfastness requirements – domestic and commercial laundering, dry-cleaning, bleaching (hypochlorite), hot pressing
- Dimensional change requirements for background and non-fluorescent materials + test method
- Mechanical properties requirements for background and non-fluorescent materials
- Retroreflective performance requirements for separate performance retroreflective materials and cancelled three classes
- Test methods of dimensional change after washing or dry-cleaning
- Graphical symbol of high visibility warning clothing and the deletion of the markings (indicating Performance Class) of the graphical symbol in GB 20653-2006
Issued by the Standardization Administration of China, the new standard was included in China’s No. 18 announcement of newly approved national standards for 2020. It replaces the version iteration – GB 20653-2006 – and will come into effect on August 1, 2021.
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