Laboratory of the IAC-Quepia program imports equipment from Germany to carry out ISO 6330 tests in the country

Fundag – Agricultural Research Support Foundation made it possible to purchase a state-of-the-art German washing machine for the ‘Quepia’ laboratory – IAC Program for the Quality of Personal Protective Equipment in Agriculture. The new equipment places the laboratory, located in Jundiaí in São Paulo, among the most modern in the world for testing washing, durability and quality certifications involving agricultural protective clothing, special clothing for applying agrochemicals to crops.

According to scientific researcher Hamilton Ramos, coordinator of the Quepia program, Fundag's investment in importing the washing machine was in the order of R$200. With the equipment, the Jundiaí laboratory also gains a new qualification: it starts to apply, in Brazil, the set of tests required by the ISO 6330 standard, specific for analyzes of the useful life of agricultural clothing, based on more than ten technical criteria of washing. 

According to Ramos, the imported machine will be operated in addition to other equipment of its kind, called a laundrometer, acquired two years ago, in tests aimed at determining the useful life of water-repellent fabrics. He explains that the laundrometer evaluates samples of these raw materials, while the new equipment focuses on making the garment as a whole.

“The new machine can be used in the tests necessary to issue the CA (Certificate of Approval) for PPE, by the Special Secretariat for Social Security and Labor. The washer enables rigorous control of the entire washing analysis process of clothing used in the application of agrochemicals”, adds Ramos.

According to Ramos, the integration of the equipment will reduce a technical washing process that currently lasts around an hour to fifteen minutes, a gain of 75%. “The new equipment will expand the production capacity of the laboratory and the research team. If there is an official change to the ISO 6330 standard, for example, the machine will be updated automatically, using an information card.”

Ramos also informs that almost R$1,2 million has already been invested in the Jundiaí laboratory in recent years, through public-private partnerships. The site occupies an area of ​​300 square meters. A team of professionals specialized in innovating methods to assess worker exposure to agrochemicals and the quality of agricultural protective clothing works there. The laboratory's performance reduced the failure rate of agricultural protective clothing subjected to standardized tests by ISO International from 80% to 20% in Brazil.

The IAC-Quepia Program unites the private sector with the Engineering and Automation Center (CEA), of the Agronomic Institute (IAC), an entity of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Supply of the State of São Paulo. It was created 15 years ago and carries out dozens of studies on agricultural protective clothing and protective gloves, in addition to certifying the quality of these products with the IAC-Quepia Seal, today recognized as a synonym of quality and credibility for manufacturers of agricultural PPE.