Body Armor and the Hypodermic Threat

Hypodermic needles can pose a serious and realistic threat to frontline professionals such as police officers and paramedics.

Facing someone carrying any type of edged weapon is a real problem, but many of us know colleagues who have been stabbed and survived. Unless you face someone who really knows what they’re doing, you have a realistic chance of surviving this type of assault.

However, being attacked by a random person jabbing a hypodermic needle at you can pose an equal or even greater danger. It can expose you to contact with bloodborne pathogens such as HIV and hepatitis C, and contracting such diseases can result in a much shorter life expectancy. In my personal and professional opinion, this issue presents a realistic risk in today’s society.

There are many recorded incidents of HIV-positive prisoners and criminals using hypodermic needles as weapons, but the one that jumps to my mind occurred in England in 2012. Police constable Gemma Newman was stabbed in her arm with a hypodermic needle by shoplifter Grzegorz Pajak, who told her he was HIV-positive. It was at least the third time Pajak had wielded a needle when caught stealing, and he earned 32 months in jail for it.

“This was without question the most frightening incident I have been involved in,” Newman said in a statement to the court during Pajak’s trial. “I had never been confronted with a needle before, and I was extremely scared. I have been left questioning whether I want to continue working as a frontline police officer, as this incident has affected me so much.”

Other headlines include:

• “Boston Man Charged With Armed Robbery and Assault With a Hypodermic Needle Facing Life Sentence”
• “Birmingham Hypodermic Syringe Attacker ‘Has Stabbed 11 Women’”
• “Guard Stabbed With Syringe Awaiting Result”
• “Dublin Muggers Bring Terror to the Streets With Blood-filled Syringes”
• “Cheltenham Supermarket Security Guard Stabbed With Needle During Attempted Theft”

Relevant Standards

There are needle-resistance standards for personal protective equipment (PPE). These might not be designed to test most body armor against but nevertheless can give professionals a very clear indication what level of needle protection a piece of PPE offers.

ASTM (the American Society for Testing and Materials) has recently developed a new international standard, ASTM F2878, “Standard Test Method for Protective Clothing Material Resistance to Hypodermic Needle Puncture.”

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

Of course no single standard can replicate the real-life conditions in which a needle puncture may take place, but testing to such a standard can eliminate some concerns a potential body armor wearer might have.

The European EN 388:2016 standard for protective gloves against mechanical risks is another valuable test. This is a test developed to verify the needle puncture resistance of gloves, not body armor, but again it will indicate that a specific product or material has been tested against a recognized needle-resistance standard and that it has passed such test.

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

If I personally had to wear any type of body armor, I would prefer to know that an independent government-authorized agency had examined it and certified that it offers such level of spike protection.

Robert Kaiser is founder and CEO of PPSS Group, a UK-based provider of high-performance body armor and cut- and slash-resistant clothing. Contact him at rk@ppss-group.com.