ETI Xposure Guard CX Article

Revolutionizing Chemical Protective Wear for Safety and Affordability

Traditionally, selecting the right chemical protective wear for safety and affordability has been a complicated process. When it comes to protecting employees from job site hazards in petrochemical environments, having the right suit and the right level of protection is essential. With so many chemical suits on the market today, all providing different levels and types of protection, finding the right suit can be a challenge. Selecting the right chemical suit isn’t a one-size-fits-all process; protection levels vary significantly depending on the exposure hazards present, the specific task at hand, and the materials and activities required to complete the job. Choosing correctly ensures you aren’t overspending on unnecessary gear or, more importantly, leaving your team under-protected. In the United States, chemical protection is categorized into Levels (A, B, C, and D). These levels are defined by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).

In the American safety hierarchy, Level B and Level C are the workhorses of the industrial and hazmat world. While they often look identical, both typically consisting of hooded, liquid-splash-resistant coveralls, the critical difference lies entirely in the airborne exposure hazard.

When determining needs for your business, it’s important to understand the specific situations where PPE is required, and then ensure you’re purchasing the right protection for the job. That’s why the Xposure Guard line from ETI was developed – to not just meet, but exceed published safety standards while ensuring the best value for your company’s needs.

Safety Briefing: Why "Level Certified" Isn't "Job-Ready"

Choosing a chemical ensemble requires looking beyond the OSHA Level. A certification tells you what the suit should do in a lab; it doesn’t tell you what it will do on your job site. Multiple factors on any job site will impact how well the suit performs in specific conditions.

1. Ensemble Specificity: Beyond the Suit

In the US, we don’t just pick a suit; we pick an ensemble. A Level B suit is useless if your team isn’t trained on the required SCBA (Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus). Protection isn’t universal, a suit rated for liquid splashes (Level B/C) offers zero protection against toxic vapors that require a gas-tight Level A seal.

2. The “Minimum Level” Trap

Think of OSHA Levels (A–D) as the bare legal minimum. While a suit may be marketed as “Level B compliant,” that only proves it passed a basic liquid test. For high-risk environments, review available information on independent testing, manufacturer details, and suit specifications.

3. Movement & Mechanical Stress

Most standard certifications test fabric in a static, “perfect” state. They don’t account for the mechanical stress of a job site. If your operators are working on scaffolding or in confined spaces, a certified suit can easily puncture or tear. You must consider garments with high ASTM ratings for abrasion and puncture resistance, regardless of the Level.

4. Permeation vs. Penetration

A suit might be “liquid tight” (preventing leaks through seams), but that doesn’t mean it is chemical proof. Different manufacturers use different materials; a Level B suit from Brand X might resist a specific acid for 4 hours, while Brand Y fails in 20 minutes. Always check the ASTM F739 breakthrough data for your specific chemical exposure risk.

Understanding Fit and Features

In addition to selecting a suit with the correct protection level rating, it’s also important to fully understand fit and features beyond the basics.

The Xposure Guard™ line by Eastern Technologies (ETI) focuses on a “Physical Durability” philosophy that aligns with core US safety concerns we’ve discussed, specifically addressing the gap between a suit being “certified” and a suit being “job-ready.” Our approach is to produce job-ready PPE that is affordable, exceeds safety standards, and is highly effective in real world applications.

The BEST FITTM Design: Reducing Mechanical Failure

The most common cause of suit failure in the US is not chemical permeation, but mechanical stress (rips and tears at the seams). ETI addresses this through:

Generous Fabric Allocation: Unlike economy suits that use slim cuts to save on material costs, Xposure Guard includes extra fabric in high-stress zones (the crotch, underarms, and across the back). Unique to ETI, this is known as their BEST FIT™ design, offering unparalleled range of movement, comfort, and protection.
Range of Motion: By eliminating the tug when a worker reaches overhead or kneels, the suit remains intact and unrestrictive during intense physical activity like climbing scaffolding or working in confined spaces.
Safety Implication: A better fit doesn't just provide comfort; it ensures the integrity of your Level B or C barrier by preventing a garment breach during movement.

Specialized Technical Support: Custom Permeation Testing

One of the most unique features of ETI is the approach to the ASTM F739 testing standards we touched on earlier.

On-Demand Testing: If your facility handles a unique chemical cocktail that isn't on a standard breakthrough chart, ETI uses a contracted 3rd-party lab to test the Xposure Guard fabric specifically against your hazard.
Transparency: We provide "good or bad" data quickly. This is crucial for US compliance, where having documented proof of a suit's performance against specific chemicals is often required for OSHA records.

Economic Value: Lowering the "Total Cost of Protection"

ETI positions Xposure Guard as a budget-friendly option, but not by lowering the quality of the fabric. The value comes from two areas:

The New Xposure Guard CX Suit - Superior Safety, Exceptional Savings

Balancing budgets with safety needs has always been a challenge that companies face across any chemical industry, however those challenges grow exponentially when discussing specific applications for the petrochemical industries and hazmat response. With needs for a wide array of situations and job site applications, having the right suit available when needed, and having that suit also be affordable has been an industry-wide challenge.

The new Xposure Guard CX suit solves that challenge with a superior suit offering Level B and Level C protection, when paired with corresponding respiratory protection. When tested by an independent third party, the suit outperformed nearly all others on the market, while also combining added secondary FR protection from a flash fire in a single suit. To find comparable protection on the market today, you’d have to combine anywhere from 1-3 different layers of suits or purchase a suit priced at nearly 2x the cost of Xposure Guard CX.

Priced competitively at $70 – $80 MSRP per suit depending on specific features, equivalent protection from any other brand starts around $90 MSRP without FR, and $140 with FR rating. Many of the competitor suits lack the FR rating, something that’s a safety requirement as the outer layer at most refineries.

When faced with the challenge of developing a safer suit for chemical protective wear, ETI drew on their years of experience, coupled with their world-class technological and production excellence, to take their Xposure Guard line to the next level. The Xposure Guard CX surpasses all expectations. With third party independent lab testing showing permeation rates beyond the standard 8h workday for all critical job site chemicals found in the most common petroleum industry situations, the current standards were just the bare minimum. With the addition of the secondary FR rating, the Xposure Guard CX allows facilities to simplify ordering and job site needs, reduce space in storage closets, on work trucks and vans, and provide superior safety with exceptional savings that have never been available before throughout the industry.

When compared to other protective garments on the market, Kappler Innovation is reducing risk exposure with a multi-purpose garment providing primary chemical protection with secondary FR. This new item is compliant with NFPA 2113 (Section 5.1.10), but only when worn over NFPA 2112 workwear. It has been proven by ASTM F1930 Pyroman testing.

Another competitor, DuPont, makes the Tychem® line of protective wear. In the event that a flash fire occurs, Tychem® 6000 SFR garments won’t contribute to additional burn injury if appropriate primary flame-resistant personal protective equipment, such as DuPont™ Nomex®, is worn beneath. That means in order to match comparable protection offered by Xposure Guard CX, the worker would need to wear both the Tychem® 6000 SFR along with primary flame-resistant PPE underneath.

When tested by an independent third party, the Xposure GuardCX suit outperformed nearly all others on the market at a more affordable price point, while also combining additional fire protection when worn over NFPA 2112 workwear. Xposure Guard CX Meets the NFPA 2113 requirements under Section 5.1.10 and is verified by extensive PyroMan Testing per ASTM F1930.

In addition to the robust chemical protection offered by the Xposure Guard CX product line, ETI’s revolutionary Best FitTM design features increased range of motion to help eliminate dangerous rip outs or similar suit failures due to motion limitations on job sites. The Best Fit design includes several key features designed to reduce friction and allow for full range of motion to reduce garment tears and failures while on the job site. The design not only benefits worker safety but also improves comfort and workers efficiency on the job.

Sleeves are attached to the body in a forward & upward direction, instead of straight out to the side. This allows for the garment sleeves to naturally hang in an up and forward angle for better range of motion in all working situations.
Additional material is sewn into the armpits. This allows the sleeve to rise straight up without pulling on the armpit seam.
The shoulder seam is moved toward the neck. This feature allows for added shoulder rotation while not affecting the position of the coverall body.
The sleeve length was increased over standard length, allowing for the attachment of gloves to the sleeves while eliminating pull/fall down when reaching overhead.

Additional material is sewn into the rear and back of the coverall. This eliminates the stress/pull of the coverall across the back and buttock when bending down or kneeling.
The leg length was increased to allow the legs to fully cover the work boot even while climbing.
The crotch seam has been positioned higher than the competition to ease stress on that critical seam eliminating rip-outs while walking and climbing.

Xposure Guard™ line of protective outer wear by ETI offers the best fitting, most comfortable garment available. Eastern Technologies has built into the Xposure Guard™ garments a more generous amount of fabric in key areas to virtually eliminate tears and allow for the most free range of motion available on the market. When reviewing the options for PPE, the new Xposure Guard CX lives up to the brand name in every respect, protecting your crew with unmatched protection from the largest range of chemical hazards, with the added secondary FR protection in the event of a flash fire. Contact ETI at [email protected] or 334-899-4351 for a distributor near you.