Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the National Standards Body of India, involved in the activities of standardisation, marking and quality certification of goods and related matters. The standard mark of BIS is a widely accepted benchmark of quality assurance.
The COVID – 19 pandemic which has taken the world by storm is a contagious disease. Social distancing is being practiced across the world to prevent the virus from spreading. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) comprising of face masks, face shield, eye protector, gloves, coverall and shoe covers are being widely used as a preventive measure to protect from infection. Robust quality of such PPE kits is of paramount importance in ensuring the protection that is envisaged. In addition to setting benchmarks for standardisation of PPE kit components, BIS also undertakes certification of such products and licensing of their manufacturers.
BIS standards of PPE kit components include:
Face Masks:-
(a) IS 9473:2002 ‘Respiratory Protective Devices – Filtering half masks to protect against particles’ (N95* type) ; and
(b) IS16289:2014 ‘Medical Textiles – Surgical Face Masks specification’.
Face Shield:-
(a) IS 8521 (Part 1): 1977Specification for industrial safety face shields: Part 1 with plastics visor
Eye Protector:-
(a) IS 5983: 1980 -Specification for eye – Protectors (First Revision)
Gloves:-
(a) IS 4148: 1989 Surgical Rubber Gloves- Specification (First Revision);
(b) IS 13422: 1992 Disposable surgical rubber gloves – Specification; and
(c) IS 15354(Part 1):2018/ ISO 11193-1: 2008 Single-use medical examination gloves Part 1 Specification for gloves made from rubber latex or rubber solution (First Revision)
Coverall:-
(a) IS 17423: 2020 Medical Textiles “Coveralls for COVID-19” – Specification.
Shoe Cover:-
(a) IS 17349 : 2019 Medical Textiles “Shoe Covers” Specification.
Manufacturers of PPE who are interested in applying for BIS license may register themselves and submit their applications online through BIS website – www.bis.gov.in. The aforementioned Indian Standards can be accessed free of cost through BIS website.
*’N’ stands for “Non-resistant to oil” and ‘95’ indicates that the mask filters at least 95% of airborne particles.
Written by:
Mr. Prakash Bachani
Head (MHD Dept.)