West Yorkshire Mataerials Testing Servive will be exhibiting at the Interiors Show at Birmingham NEC 20- 23 rd Januuary. Please visit us at Stand 86 in Hall 5

Mark Dawes joins WYMTS as Senior Technologist (3/10/10)

WYMTS are pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Dawes to the position of Senior Technologist responsible for CE Certification of Clothing for protection against heat and flame and high visibility garments.

Mark joins us from SGS where he spent many years carrying out similar duties.

Mark replaces Phil Briggs who has left to pursue a career in the Industry.

Mark can be contacted on 0113 393 9793 or by e-mail on mdawes@wyjs.org.uk

West Yorkshire Materials Testing Service (WYMTS) is a public Testing House. Its main areas are textile and flammability tests on textiles and also plastic film testing.

Since its foundation in July 1990 WYMTS has established itself as a testing laboratory used by the textile and clothing industries, upholstery suppliers and manufacturers, local authority cleaning departments, plastic film products manufacturers and Trading Standards Authorities.

The laboratories have been accredited by UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) since November 1991 and are able to offer over 100 tests under this accreditation.

The Laboratory is also accredited by several High Street Stores.

WYMTS is a publicly owned body operated through the Joint Services Committee representing the five constituent authorities of West Yorkshire: Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield.

WYMTS responsibilities through Joint Services are as follows:

• Testing fibre content and flammability performance of textiles.
• Ensuring that suppliers to the Constituent Authorities meet quality specifications.
• Providing analysis and testing services to other Trading Standards bodies, local authorities and private sector companies.
  

PPE Certification - Notified Body Approval

West Yorkshire Materials Testing has now been approved by BERR and the European Commission as an Approved Body under Regulation 14 of the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/1144). This means that Materials Testing is now a Notified Body for the conducting of EC Type-Examination Certificates for PPE to comply with the requirements of the PPE Directive 89/686/EEC. Our Approved Body Number is 2019.

This greatly enhances our service to manufacturers of PPE, as not only can we test to the standards, we can now certify products for CE marking.

Such standards we can test and certify for are outlined below:

• EN 531 : 1995/ ISO DIS 11612 Protective clothing for workers exposed to heat
• EN 533 : 1997 Protective clothing, protection against heat and flame
• EN 11611 : 2007 (which has now replaced EN 470-1:1995) Protective clothing for use in welding and allied processes
• EN 388 : 2003 Protective gloves against mechanical risks
• EN 407 : 2004 Protective gloves against thermal risks (heat and/or fire)