PPE is the area where a sourcing mistake directly engages your liability. For categories II and III, EU regulation requires an EU type-examination certificate from a notified body identifiable by its four-digit number. A manufacturer’s declaration of conformity alone is not enough.
So for every reference we verify the notified body number, the validity of the certificate, the exact standard claimed and its edition year. Many low-cost imported products cite a withdrawn standard or a body that never existed.
The second issue is real comfort. PPE that teams dislike wearing ends up taken off, which cancels its function. So we always run a field trial with a sample of wearers before any annual volume commitment.
Typical requirements
- Workwear and high-visibility clothing
- Safety footwear and gloves
- Head, eye, hearing and respiratory protection
- Fall arrest and work at height
- Technical and flame-retardant textiles
- Printing, embroidery and personalisation
This sector, country by country
- Sourcing PPE and workwear in FranceA distributor-held market where the catalogue price is never the price.
- Sourcing PPE and workwear in LuxembourgEverything is imported, and the instructions must be in the wearer’s language.
- Sourcing PPE and workwear in the NetherlandsStock available fast — but you need to know who actually manufactures.
- Sourcing PPE and workwear in BelgiumTwo mandatory languages on the instructions, two markets nobody canvasses together.
