The right protective clothing for working on electric cars 

What does e-mobility mean for occupational safety?

According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority, around 1.4 million electric cars were registered in Germany at the beginning of 2024. Even if the figures have recently risen more slowly than politicians hope for in terms of the transport transition, electric cars are now part of everyday life on German roads and will replace vehicles with combustion engines as the number one means of transport in the foreseeable future. 

The shift towards electromobility also raises issues relating to occupational health and safety. For example, electrical hazards do not play a role when working on cars with combustion engines because car batteries usually have a voltage of 12 volts (V). The high-voltage systems (HV systems) of electric cars, on the other hand, have voltages ranging between 60 V and 1500 V DC or 30 V and 1000 V AC.

Electrical hazards as a risk 

For employees in the automotive industry or in workshops, this means that they are potentially working under voltage during all activities in the various life phases of an electric car - from the manufacture of the car to the maintenance and repair of the vehicle and the recycling of the battery. Electrical hazards are therefore the main risk associated with electric drive technology.

As a general rule, anyone working on hybrid or electric vehicles requires an additional qualification. This is specified in the relevant DGUV Information 209-093 ‘Qualification for work on vehicles with high-voltage systems’. There are different qualification levels (e.g. electrician for high-voltage systems) depending on the activity. However, this article is not about qualification. Rather, the focus is on the question of what effects working on electric cars has on the choice of protective clothing. 

How do electricians protect themselves against electric arc faults?

Occupational health and safety endeavours to minimise the risk of an arc fault for those potentially at risk. The measures taken must always comply with the general principles of risk prevention in accordance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Technical measures such as insulation and covers take precedence over organisational measures, which include, for example, the marking of HV vehicles in the workshop or compliance with prescribed waiting times for the removal of voltage. If these measures are not sufficient, personal measures must be taken, including the wearing of personal protective equipment.

5 safety rules for maintaining and repairing an electric car

Before you start repairing a battery-powered vehicle, it must be de-energised. In principle, you should always follow the same procedure when maintaining or repairing an electric car. DGUV Information 209-093 stipulates that work on the HV system may only be started once five safety rules have been observed:

1. Disconnect 
2. Secure against restarting
3. Ensure that there is no voltage 
4. Earthing and short-circuiting 
5. Cover or isolate neighbouring live parts.

Allow for human error  

If these five safety rules are followed, work on the electric car will not be carried out under voltage. Nevertheless, human error and non-compliance with the rules can never be completely ruled out. This is why Heike Altenhofen, Product Manager for Personal Protective Equipment at the Cologne-based clothing manufacturer BP - Bierbaum-Proenen, recommends always wearing the appropriate protective clothing. ‘This is the only way to play it safe and be prepared for the worst-case scenario.’ This recommendation applies both to the production of electric cars and to their repair or service work.

If you looked around a garage in the past, you would see mechatronics engineers wearing workwear - i.e. workwear that was not subject to any standards. ‘Special protective clothing was also not required for maintenance or repairs on cars with combustion engines,’ explains Heike Altenhofen from BP - Bierbaum-Proenen. The situation is completely different when working on electric cars, which are - at least potentially - energised and which will become the norm in German workshops in the course of the transport transition. This is because the risk of an arc fault, which must be avoided at all costs, is always present.

Risk of irreversible physical injury or death  

An arc fault occurs when an arc occurs in an electrical system or on electrical equipment due to a fault rather than during operation. In this case, enormous amounts of energy are released within a very short time. In the DGUV information, the German Social Accident Insurance warns of a ‘previously unheard of level of electrical hazard. There is a risk of irreversible physical injury or death due to electric shock or electric arcs’.

Multi-standard protective clothing - the clothing solution for e-mobility and the electrical trade  

When choosing the right protective clothing, more and more companies are therefore opting not just for pure arc fault protection, but for multi-standard protective clothing in order to protect their employees in the best possible way and against as many risks as possible. On the one hand, this allows them to play it safe and comply with their high internal safety standards - a very important aspect, especially in times of a rampant shortage of skilled labour. On the other hand, employees can also be deployed more flexibly because they can carry out all work on electric cars, provided they have the necessary qualifications. 

Leichtigkeit steht im Fokus

Modern multi-standard protective clothing no longer has much in common with the armour-like PPE of the past. This is mainly due to modern fabric blends. For example, manufacturers mix inherently flame-retardant fibres such as modacrylic and aramid with cotton, polyamide, polyester and antistatic fibres. In arc fault protection class 1, this results in a total weight of just 245 g/m². In protection class 2, only the particularly vulnerable areas at the front are equipped with two layers. 

Working without resistance

In addition to the lightness of the PPE, ergonomics also play a decisive role in wearer comfort. If the clothing adapts to the movements and people do not have to work against resistance, they automatically perceive the PPE as much lighter. ‘In terms of feel and lightness, modern multi-standard protective clothing is absolutely comparable to contemporary workwear,’ summarises expert Heike Altenhofen. With this in mind, it makes perfect sense to use multi-standard protective clothing for all work on electric cars and to provide employees with the best possible protection.

A speciality at BP: there is also a large selection of multi-standard protective clothing for women.