Types of Preventive Clothing and Their Uses or Applications Part-4

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Flame Resistant Environmental Ensemble (FREE):
Ensemble:
A group of items viewed as a whole rather than individually.

Flame Resistant Environmental Ensemble (FREE):
The Flame Resistant Environmental Ensemble (FREE) is a multi-layered, versatile insulating garment that is adaptable to varying mission requirements and environmental conditions. The system consists of undergarments, a base layer, mid-weight under-layer, light weather outer layer, intermediate weather outer layer, and an extreme/wet weather parka. It also includes cold weather gloves, a rigger belt, and wool socks.
FREE is designed to be functional and increase comfort and ergonomic efficiency in and out of aircraft and combat vehicles. It will replace aviation and combat vehicle crewmen cold-weather clothing.

Figure 27: “Tank crewmembers demonstrating the multiple layers.”

Flame Resistant Organizational Gear (FROG):
Flame Resistant Organizational Gear (FROG) is clothing used by the United States Marine Corps to reduce the number of injuries resulting from fire and flash (especially burns), due to the increased use of improvised explosive devices in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Figure 28: “A Marine models the FROG balaclava and shirt”

Figure 29: “US Marine models the FROG as a part of Uniform System developed by US Marine Corps”

Army Combat Shirt:
The Army Combat Shirt (ACS) is a flame-resistant shirt developed for the United States Army as an addition to the Army Combat Uniform. The ACS is a stand-alone shirt designed specifically for use with Improved Outer Tactical Vest armor in warm and hot weather. It is intended to greatly increase user comfort through the use of lightweight, moisture-wicking, and breathable fabrics.

Figure 30: “A U.S. Army soldier wearing the Army Combat Shirt in May 2007”

Figure 31: “A U.S. Army soldier wearing the Army Combat Shirt in May 2007”

High-visibility clothing:
High-visibility (HV) clothing, a type of personal protective equipment (PPE), is any clothing worn that has highly reflective properties or a colour that is easily discernible from any background. Yellow waistcoats worn by emergency services are a common example.

Figure 32: “London Metro Police Department Officers wearing HV jackets are patrolling on bicycles”

Figure 33: “Firefighters wearing coats with high-visibility strips”

Anti-Static Clothing:
Anti-static garments or anti-static clothing is required to prevent damage to electrical components or to prevent fires and explosions when working with flammable liquids and gases.

Antistatic garments are used in many industries such as electronics, communications, telecommunications and defense applications. As computers and electronics become ever more pervasive in consumer products so an increasing number of manufacturers will need to apply anti-static control measures. One such measure is antistatic apparel because people are the greatest source of static charge in the workplace.

Transportation of electrostatic sensitive devices also requires packaging that provides protection from electrostatic hazards in the transportation or storage system. In the case of an ESD protected area designed with continuous grounding of all conductors and dissipative items (including personnel), packaging may not be necessary.

The amount of static electricity we feel varies according to factors such as our body and foot size. A larger body and bigger feet require more charge to be stored to produce the same voltage. The material our clothes are made from and the soles of our shoes can influence static electricity too. Weather affects it as well. There is more build-up of static charge when the air is dry. Most people feel harmless shocks at around 2,000-4,000 volts. However electrical components can be damaged by as little as a few volts. It is estimated that between eight percent and 33 percent of product losses—-the proportion of products which are rendered faulty—-are due to static electricity. Static electricity is generally harmless to the individual but if not controlled, electrostatic discharge can cause product damage to electrostatic sensitive devices and lead to machinery downtime, lost man-hours, returned products and warranty costs particularly in the semiconductor and electronics industries, which lead 5 billion USD of damage to products each year.

Figure 34: “Anti-static garments being used while testing electrical/electronic products”

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