In a significant development, two units of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) namely the Small Arms Factory (SAF) Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and the Heavy Vehicle Factory (HVF) Avadi in Tamil Nadu (TN) have been granted accreditation by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for conducting the ‘Test for Blood Penetration Resistance’ today as the test equipment manufactured by them met the ASTM F 1670:2003 and ISO 16603:2004 standards. The equipment was developed by a number of Ordnance Factories in a competitive mission mode in a record time of a fortnight.

The basic principle of the test is to expose the fabric, used as a raw material to manufacture coveralls to ‘synthetic blood’ at different pressure levels for specified periods of time. The test is essentially required to facilitate bulk manufacture of coveralls by manufacturers all over the country in large numbers for health workers and first responders dealing with patients afflicted with the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Hitherto, this test was available only with South India Textile Research Association (SITRA), Coimbatore in the entire country and testing of the fabric for manufacture of coveralls had emerged as a critical bottleneck especially during the nationwide lockdown and in the absence of logistics.

With the latest development, another test facility has been created in South India and the first such facility has been established in North India.

This will not only enable the OFB to ramp up production of coveralls in the clothing factories, four of which are in UP and one in TN, but will also enable other agencies engaged in the manufacture of coveralls to avail this crucial testing facility.

ABB/SS/Nampi/KA/DK/Savvy