Body Armour: Effective Protection from Hypodermic Needles?

Robert Kaiser, CEO/Founder PPSS Group, writes that although there is no standard for testing body armour specifically against needle attack, some good indicative standards do exist.

Hypodermic needles pose a serious threat to domestic frontline professionals, such as private security, police, prison officers and paramedics.

Facing someone carrying any type of edged weapon can be classed as a ‘real problem’, but many of us will know someone who has been stabbed and survived such assault. Unless you face someone who really knows what they’re doing, there’s a realistic chance of surviving such an assault.

However, being attacked by a random person waving a hypodermic needle at you and sticking it anywhere into your body is of equal or even greater danger. It could mean coming into contact with blood-borne pathogens such as HIV and Hepatitis C. In my personal and professional opinion this presents a realistic risk.

There are many recorded incidents of HIV positive prisoners and criminals using a hypodermic needle as weapon, such as the one which occurred when UK Police Officer Gemma Newman was stabbed with a hypodermic needle in her arm, by shoplifter Grzegorz Pajak who was claiming that he was ‘HIV Positive’. She has since considered leaving front line policing due to ‘deep psychological distress’ a court heard.

Other reported incidents include: • “Boston Man Charged with Armed Robbery and Assault with a Hypodermic Needle Facing Life Sentence”. • “Birmingham Hypodermic Syringe Attacker has Stabbed 11 Women”. • “Security guard stabbed with syringe in test wait”. • “Dublin muggers bring terror to the streets with blood-filled syringes”. • “Security guard pricked in neck with needle, Houston police say”. • “Cheltenham supermarket security guard stabbed with needle during attempted theft”.

I’m guessing that the arresting officers would be quite keen to understand whether their standard issue body armour is protecting them from such a weapon.

Despite the opinion of many experts, there are needle resistance standards out there. They might not be designed to test body armour specifically, but they can nevertheless give professionals a clear indication of what level of needle protection a piece of personal protective equipment (PPE) offers.

ASTM (The American Society for Testing and Materials) has recently developed a new international standard, the ASTM F2878. This is a ‘Test Method for Protective Clothing Material Resistance to Hypodermic Needle Puncture’.

This test-method evaluates puncture resistance of protective clothing materials, which may include plastics or elastomeric films, coated fabrics, flexible materials, laminates, leathers or textile materials.

No single standard can replicate the real-life conditions in which a needle puncture takes place but testing to such a standard must be a good thing and will certainly eliminate some concerns a potential body armour wearer might have.

The EN 388:2016 (Protective gloves against mechanical risks) is another available test. This was developed to verify the needle puncture resistance of gloves and has not been designed to test body armour, but again it will indicate that a specific product or material has been tested against a recognised standard.

However, in the world of body armour, it is widely accepted that official SPIKE tests and successful ‘spike resistance certifications’ are evidence that a body armour can withstand any type of hypodermic needle. In fact, such body armour can potentially withstand many other tools/toys/weapons much stronger than a needle.

If I personally would have to wear any type of body armour, then I would of course prefer to know that an independent government authorised agency had had a look at it and confirmed that it offers spike level protection.