The Textiles Committee, based in Mumbai, has recently stepped forward to undertake the testing and certification process for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that is required by healthcare workers and other Covid-19 frontline defenders. PPE encompasses various types of protective clothing and equipment, including helmets, gloves, face shields, goggles, facemasks and respirators. These are all designed with the objective to protect the individual wearing them from injury, infection or illness.
Key Points
The Textiles Committee has come up as the ninth approved laboratory tasked with the testing and certification of body coveralls. This decision was sanctioned by the National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories (NABL), which supervises this lab facility under the umbrella of the Textiles Committee.
Taking a massive stride towards self-reliance, the Textiles Committee has introduced fully indigenously (Make in India) designed PPE Testing Equipment termed Synthetic Blood Penetration Testing Equipment. The primary function of this equipment is to test the resistance of protective clothing materials to penetration by blood and body fluids.
Benefits
The implementation of this initiative will significantly help in overcoming the persisting challenges in India linked with the non-availability of reputed domestic manufacturers of PPE testing equipment. Furthermore, it will also potentially cut down the extensive wait times associated with importing these machines from foreign countries such as China.
Providing an additional boost to the country’s manufacturing capabilities, this initiative intends to establish India as the world’s second-largest manufacturer of body coveralls, following close behind China.
About the Textiles Committee
Established in 1963 through an Act of Parliament, the Textiles Committee is a statutory body currently operated under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles. It was formed with the overarching goal to ensure the quality of textiles and textile machinery both for internal consumption and export purposes.
Its roster of tasks includes setting up laboratories for the testing of textiles and textile machinery, as well as providing for their inspection and examination. The Chairman of the Committee is nominated directly by the Government. This new responsibility of testing and certifying PPE will now be added to its pre-existing portfolio.