Guidance

Home Office Body Armour Standard 2017

Guidance on the minimum performance requirements and test methods for body armour intended for UK law enforcement agencies.

• From: Home Office
• Published: 31 July 2017
• Last updated: 23 March 2018 — See all updates

Documents

Body Armour Standard 2017

PDF, 1.44 MB, 92 pages

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Body Armour Standard 2017: guidance

PDF, 712 KB, 22 pages

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Test Facilities: Home Office Body Armour Standard (2017)

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Details

The Home Office Body Armour Standard 2017 provides minimum performance requirements and test methods for the assessment of body armour to protect against ballistic, knife and spike threats.

The key improvements from the previous Home Office standards include:

• Formed armour testing: anthropometrically derived test surrogates, more representative of the morphologies of the female torso, enabling enhanced assessment of female body armour

• Ballistic protection levels: an updated set of ballistic protection levels with test rounds reflecting the current operational requirements of UK law enforcement

• Rifle testing: anthropometrically derived male front and back torso surrogates for ballistic testing to provide enhanced assessment on the performance of rifle protection

• Production quality testing (PQT): introduction of critical perforation analysis (CPA) as a quality assurance tool to provide increased confidence in the continued production quality of soft armour

• In-life monitoring (ILM): periodical assessment of in-service body armour over a period of time to ensure performance is maintained

The guidance document is used to assist police services and procurement bodies in making informed decisions in the selection of body armour and outline elements of best practice for end-users.

It addresses considerations beyond body armour testing and certification including selecting the most appropriate armour, coverage and fit assessments, and in-service maintenance and lifecycle considerations.

Published 31 July 2017
Last updated 23 March 2018 + show all updates

1. 23 March 2018

   Added a list of Home Office Body Armour Standard (2017) test facilities.

2. 31 July 2017

   First published.