Brazil plays a central role in changes to ISO standards

Meeting in Japan last month, the International Standardization Organization (ISO) Committee responsible for managing the standards ISO 27065 (agricultural protective clothing) and ISO 17491-4 (testing clothing in cabins) approved changes to the content of both. Part of these modifications, proposed by ABNT, originated in studies and research developed by the IAC Agricultural Protective Clothing Quality program (IAC-Quepia), coordinated by scientific researcher Hamilton Ramos.

Resulting from a partnership between the Engineering and Automation Center (CEA), the Agronomic Institute (IAC), an agency of the Department of Agriculture and Supply of the State of SP and the private sector, the IAC-Quepia program completed 16 years of activities in 2023 The initiative aims to improve the industrial quality of personal protective equipment used in agrochemical applications, to provide safety for rural work.

Main changes

According to researcher Ramos, a large part of the new guidelines for ISO 27065 and ISO 17491-4 standards came from tests carried out in the laboratory of the IAC Quepia program, based in Jundiaí in São Paulo and the target of recent investments of around R$ 1,2 million. .

For ISO 27065, he explains, IAC-Quepia contributed to simplifying the ‘permeation test’, applicable to impermeable materials. This measure, he says, allows significant savings in the test liquid needed for the test. “The test liquid originally used costs around four thousand euros per liter, not counting import taxes, an absurd amount. With the simplification proposed by the IAC, presented by ABNT and accepted by ISO, the cost of this analysis should fall by around 80%”, explains Ramos.

As for the ISO 17491-4 standard, whose objective is to evaluate the possibility of pesticide penetration into protective clothing during the period of rural work, the changes were more comprehensive, according to Ramos.

“Under review since 2015, at the suggestion of Brazil, several changes were incorporated with a view to reducing the variability of results between different laboratories, such as the standardization of 'movements' performed by the 'model', a person who simulates being a PPE user agricultural activity in the field, positioned inside the test base cabin. A new timing standard will also be adopted during this simulation, from the moment of exposure to the product until the analysis of results and the composition of the test liquid.

Still in relation to this, says Ramos, the ISO meeting accepted recommendations from Brazil regarding the 'spray bar' specifications used in the tests. Until recently, adds the researcher, four nozzles were used, spaced 45 cm apart. “Now, the first nozzle must be 60 centimeters from the platform and the others 45 centimeters away, aiming for better distribution of the test liquid over the body of the person representing the worker in the cabin.”

ISO also accepted, according to the researcher, a suggestion to globally standardize the size of the base test cabin, “whose new dimension will resemble that which has been maintained in the Quepia laboratory for several years”.

Finally, continues Ramos, an annex was included in ISO 17491-4 that standardizes the size of the clothing to be incorporated into the tests. This standard provides new guidelines for wearing accessory pieces to PPE in simulations, such as absorbent overalls used under protective clothing displayed in the cabin. “With such modifications, test results will be more uniform and reliable, resulting in greater worker safety”, he concludes.