GB/T 12903-2025Personal protective equipment terminology (English PDF)

Foreword

This document was issued on 31 December 2025 by the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Standardization Administration of China, and took effect the same day.

It is drafted in accordance with GB/T 1.1-2020, Directives for standardization - Part 1.

It replaces both GB/T 12903-2008, Personal protective equipment terminology, and GB/T 30042-2013, Personal protective equipment - Eye and face protection - Vocabulary, which are merged into this single document. Besides structural and editorial changes, the main technical changes are as follows:

- terms such as smart protective equipment have been added (see 3.1);

- terms such as immediately dangerous to life and health have been added (see 3.2);

- the definitions of aerosol, dust and other terms have been changed (see 3.2);

- terms such as breaking strength have been added (see 3.3);

- terms such as bump cap and rescue helmet have been added, and the definition of safety helmet has been changed (see 4.1);

- terms such as basic plane have been added and the definition of headform changed (see 4.2);

- terms such as mouldable earplug and custom-moulded earplug have been added, and the definitions of hearing protector and earplug changed (see 5.1);

- protection rate and assumed protection value have been added, and the definition of sound attenuation changed (see 5.2);

- sound restoration circuit and earcup have been added (see 5.3);

- terms from GB/T 30042-2013 that are no longer needed have been deleted, among them continuous laser, helium-neon laser, eye protector and intended use (see 3.2 and 5.1 of that document);

- terms such as non-powered air-purifying escape respirator and self-contained closed-circuit chemical oxygen respirator have been added, and the definitions of respiratory protective equipment and filtering respirator changed (see 7.1);

- particle penetration performance has been added, and the definitions of filtration efficiency and protection time changed (see 7.2);

- tight-fitting facepiece and disposable facepiece have been added, and the definition of facepiece changed (see 7.3);

- decontamination has been added (see 8.4);

- hand protective equipment, cold-protective gloves and chain-mail gloves have been added; general work gloves and anti-radiation gloves have been deleted (see 9.1);

- hand size and glove length have been added, and the definitions of penetration and dexterity changed (see 9.2);

- hybrid footwear and Class I footwear have been added; the definitions of safety footwear and toe-protective footwear have been changed; occupational footwear and acid- and alkali-resistant footwear have been deleted (see 10.1);

- double-tail lanyard and self-locking device with rigid anchor line have been added, and the definitions of full body harness and lanyard changed (see 11.1);

- maximum rated load and permanent deformation have been added, and the definitions of fall distance and extension length changed (see 11.2);

- end eyelet and fall indicator have been added (see 11.3);

- terms for the selection and maintenance of fall protective equipment have been added (see 11.4).

This document was proposed by the Ministry of Emergency Management of the People's Republic of China and is under the jurisdiction of the National Technical Committee on Personal Protective Equipment (SAC/TC 112).

First published in 1991 as GB/T 12903-1991 and first revised in 2008; this is the second revision, incorporating the content of GB/T 30042-2013.

Classification: ICS 13.340.01, CCS C73.

1 Scope

This document defines the terms used for personal protective equipment.

It applies to the preparation of technical documentation for personal protective equipment and to the writing and translation of professional handbooks, textbooks and other publications.

2 Normative references

This document has no normative references.

3 General terms

4 Head protective equipment

5 Hearing protective equipment

6 Eye and face protective equipment

7 Respiratory protective equipment

8 Protective clothing

9 Hand protective equipment

10 Foot protective equipment

11 Fall protective equipment

12 Occupational skin care products

13 Escape-only protective equipment

14 Symbols and abbreviated terms