The overall objective of this project is to support authorities and actors from the value chain in the protection and security industry by developing a model for a quality assurance process suitable for use in procurement, usage, re-usage and lifetime extension of protective equipment. Protection equipment is a large market and authorities and security actors procure services and products for several billion SEK annually.

The amount of personal protective equipment procured by an authority can sometimes happen in large quantities in a process over short time. This requires an efficient reliable quality control process, especially for the protective equipment designed to protect the personnel from the most serious violence and where lack of quality literally can be a difference between life and death. In addition to this, protective equipment is provided for preventing permanent damage such as hearing loss and body wear. In addition to the suffering of the individual, it also implies a major cost to society in the form of sick leave, healthcare costs and work task assignment limitations.

The responsibility for complying with regulations and guidelines for protective equipment and personnel lies with the employer and on the individual decision makers. This requires a structured quality process that must ensure that good decision support is available throughout the entire life of the product.

The project intends to develop a model to document data that is relevant for assessing its current features/function throughout the life of the product. This to provide continuous reliable high quality decision support for re-use and lifetime extension of the product.