CAN/CGSB/CSA-Z16602:14

Chemical agents are the main cause of occupational skin diseases and disorders. Chemical exposure can happen anywhere and no one industry is immune to it; from oil & gas, agriculture, automotive to even your own household, protection against potential health hazards in the workplace is a critical part of public safety. By selecting the correct type of protective clothing you can reduce your risk of exposure to potentially harmful chemical agents.

CSA Z16602 – Protective clothing for protection against chemicals was created with these challenges in mind. CSA Z16602 provides guidance for manufacturers about the minimum requirements for testing, categorizing and marking chemical protective clothing. CSA Z16602 also establishes minimum performance classification and labeling requirements for protective clothing designed to provide protection against chemicals. Items of protective clothing covered in the standard include totally encapsulating suits, liquid-tight / spray-tight suits, coveralls, jackets, trousers, aprons, smocks, hoods, sleeves and shoe & boot covers.

With its focus on protective clothing, CSA Z16602 does not address gloves, boots, eye/face protection devices or respiratory protective devices unless they are an integral part of the protective clothing. The standard also does not address protection against biological or thermal (hot / cold) hazards, ionizing radiation, radioactive contamination or specialized clothing used in hazardous chemical emergencies.

Highlights of CSA Z16602:

• Provides chemical protective clothing manufacturers with minimum requirements for testing, classifying, and labeling chemical protective clothing

• Includes descriptions of referenced test methods, guidelines for conducting hazard and risk assessments and suggested performance levels for certain applications

CGSB/CSA Preface

This is the first edition of CAN/CGSB/CSA-Z16602, Protective clothing for protection against chemicals - Classification, labelling and performance requirements, which is an adoption, with Canadian deviations, of the identically titled ISO (International Organization for Standardization) Standard 16602 (first edition, 2007-12-15), including Amendment 1:2012. For brevity, this Standard will be referred to as CAN/CGSB/CSA-Z16602 throughout. 

Scope

This International Standard establishes minimum performance classification and labelling requirements for protective clothing designed to provide protection against chemicals. Protective clothing items covered by this International Standard include, but may not be limited to, totally encapsulating suits, liquid-tight or spray-tight suits, coveralls, jackets, trousers, aprons, smocks, hoods, sleeves, and shoe and boot covers. 

Chemical protective clothing for protection against airborne particles is addressed by ISO 13982-1, which is referenced in this International Standard. This International Standard does not address protection against solid chemicals in forms other than airborne solid particulates (e.g. it does not address the challenge of penetration of chemical dust and powders through materials and clothing by rubbing or flexing or by simple direct contact of dust or powders onto the clothing surface). 

This International Standard does not address gloves, boots, eye/face protection devices and respiratory protective devices unless they are an integral part of the protective clothing. This International Standard does not address protection against biological or thermal (hot or cold) hazards, ionizing radiation, or radioactive contamination. This International Standard also does not address the specialized clothing used in hazardous chemical emergencies. 

Note: Chemical protective clothing used in hazardous chemical emergencies is addressed in other standards, such as EN 943-2, NFPA 1991 and NFPA 1992. 

This International Standard is intended to provide chemical protective clothing manufacturers with minimum requirements for testing, classifying, and labelling chemical protective clothing. To assist the users of products covered under this International Standard, this document provides descriptions of referenced test methods, guidelines for conducting hazard and risk assessments and suggested performance levels for certain applications. It is not the intent of this International Standard to address all situations.