| Summary: | Round-robin testing of European-weight structural firefighting clothing was undertaken at the request of Working Group 1 of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee 94/Subcommittee 14, Firefighters' Personal Equipment. The primary purpose was to gage the suitability of ISO 13506:2008, Protective Clothing Against Heat and Flame-Test Method for Complete Garments-Prediction of Burn Injury Using an Instrumented Manikin, for this type of testing by measuring the interlaboratory variability with existing laboratories. The impetus for the study was the lack of agreement reported by three laboratories in Europe when testing similar clothing. Fifty test garments of one design were produced by one clothing manufacturer from supplied materials. Six sets of randomly selected two-piece suits (jacket and trousers) were sent to each of seven laboratories for testing according to ISO 13506:2008. The seven laboratories were located in five different countries in three regions of the world: Asia, Europe, and North America. The exposure durations were 8 s at an average heat flux of 84 kW/m2. Data from the mannequin sensors were gathered for 240 s. The predicted total skin burn injury under the garment showed reasonable agreement among five of the seven laboratories. Two of the laboratories reported total skin burn injury results that were significantly different from the others. In response to the lack of agreement, a heat flux calibration system was circulated to the laboratories as a means of independently checking the sensor calibration-skin burn injury calculation as required in the ISO 13506:2008 test method. The results showed that the two laboratories with the low predicted skin burn injuries overpredicted the time it takes for injury to occur; another laboratory, one with the highest predicted skin burn injury, underpredicted the time required. These errors could be due to improper calibration of the sensors or errors in the numerical codes used for the calculations (or both). Observations on smoke generation, after-flaming, and shrinkage are also reported. Recommendations for modifications to the ISO 13506:2008 test method are discussed
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