An innovative layered approach to garment design sees Greater Manchester become the first UK fire and rescue service to meet all its response duties in one garment in which the different levels and types of protection for structural, USAR and wildland are met through wearing different combinations of outer and under garments. The contract is for the 3200 sets of the LayerFlex™ garments.
In a major departure from the approach to firefighter protection developed over the last 10 years, Greater Manchester’s new garments, designed by Bristol, will substantially reduce the number of garments each firefighter will need to fulfil the European standards of protection for use in structural firefighting, technical rescue operations and fighting heath and scrub fires.
The novel layered approach marries two jackets, a RescueFlex™ Jacket and an XFlex™ outer jacket, with one XFlex™ overtrouser. The RescueFlex™ jacket has a high visibility outershell with a Crosstech® SR moisture barrier and meets the Wildland Standard EN15614:2007 and Hi-Visibility Standard EN20471:2013. When worn with the XFlex™ outer jacket it meets EN469:2005 Level 2. The XFlex™ outer jacket is manufactured using an outer fabric of PBI Matrix with a thermal barrier. The XFlex™ trouser combines a PBI Matrix outershell with a Crosstech® Fireblocker moisture barrier and a thermal barrier.
The profile of the garments is based on Bristol’s latest XFlex™ design, providing an enhanced level of comfort and ergonomic flexibility. Combined with its technical performance, these wearer considerations, in which there was a clear preference for Bristol’s design and visual appeal, were key to securing the contract.
Philip Tasker, Bristol’s UK Sales Director, added, “As a leading international PPE manufacturer, we have always seen our role as being instrumental in using our design and product development capabilities to innovate and to offer garments which enhance wearer comfort without compromising on the delivery of class leading protection. It is particularly pleasing to have seen this combination giving us that essential competitive edge in an advanced and highly developed world market. Our XFlex™ design platform has already won us considerable new business both in the UK and in overseas markets and has enabled us to successfully deliver on Greater Manchester’s needs for a layered garment by adopting the basic design principles of XFlex™ to create an entirely new firefighter garment solution”.
For more information about Bristol Uniforms or Bristol’s managed services please contact either:
Roger Startin, Bristol Uniforms Ltd. on +44 117 956 3101 or email roger.startin@bristoluniforms.co.uk
