Chainsaw trousers, chaps, boots and gloves: what the labels and classes mean

This page reports what standards bodies, regulators and government agencies say about the standards printed on chainsaw clothing and footwear. The guide on chainsaw protection by country sets out what each country's rules say to wear. This one is about the numbers and marks behind those rules.

The standards themselves are sold by the standards bodies. Their free pages and the regulators' pages show the scope and marking of each.

The international series: ISO 11393

ISO 11393 is the international series for protective clothing for users of hand-held chainsaws. ISO's catalogue lists these parts, all published in 2018.

Part	Covers	What ISO's page says
11393-1	Test rig	Test rig for the cutting resistance of clothing, footwear and gloves
11393-2	Leg protectors	Performance requirements, test methods, design requirements, identification and marking
11393-3	Footwear	Test methods, for footwear with integral protection only
11393-4	Gloves	Gloves, with selection guidance in Annex A
11393-5	Gaiters	Gaiters tested together with one defined model of footwear
11393-6	Upper body	Jackets and similar, with a practical performance test

Part 2 is the one that names marking: its scope says it specifies the identification and marking information for leg protectors. ISO shows the 2018 edition as reviewed and confirmed in 2026. Part 5 says it does not apply to gaiters intended for situations with a significant risk of tripping, such as tree climbing or in forests.

Footwear has its own standard, ISO 17249, titled safety footwear with resistance to chain saw cutting. ISO lists the 2013 edition as published and says a replacement, ISO/FDIS 17249, is expected. ISO's catalogue describes that draft as covering footwear for users of hand-held chain saws, including footwear with customized insocks.

How EN 381 relates to ISO 11393

Europe's older series was EN 381, with parts for test methods and for each garment. BSI, the UK standards body, lists BS EN 381-5:1995 (leg protectors), 381-7:1999 (gloves), 381-9:1997 (gaiters), 381-11:2002 (upper body protectors) and 381-3:1996 (footwear test methods) as withdrawn. BSI lists BS EN ISO 11393 parts 2, 4, 5 and 6, all dated 2019, as current.

The UK government's list of designated standards for personal protective equipment shows the same shift. It gives EN 381-5:1995, EN 381-7:1999 and EN 381-11:2002 an end date for legal effect of November 19, 2021, and lists EN ISO 11393-2:2019, 11393-4:2019 and 11393-6:2019 as designated from January 1, 2021 with no end date. The list says it is a summary and does not itself generate legal effects. EN ISO 17249:2013 is on the same list with no end date.

The old EN 381 numbers still appear in some regulations and guidance, as the country sections below show, so both families of numbers turn up on labels and in rules.

United States

OSHA 1910.266

OSHA's logging standard, 29 CFR 1910.266, says it covers all types of logging, regardless of the end use of the wood. Its paragraph on leg protection says the employer provides, at no cost to the employee, and assures that each employee who operates a chain saw wears, leg protection constructed with cut-resistant material, such as ballistic nylon. The text defines ballistic nylon as a nylon fabric of high tensile properties designed to provide protection from lacerations. The leg protection covers the full length of the thigh to the top of the boot. The text names no ASTM standard, no class and no label. Its foot protection paragraph likewise asks for cut-resistant material against contact with a running chain saw. It has an exception for a climber when the employer demonstrates that a greater hazard is posed by wearing leg protection, or for work from a qualifying vehicle-mounted platform.

The standard defines logging operations as operations associated with felling and moving trees and logs from the stump to the point of delivery. OSHA's tree care standards page says the tree care industry must comply with the general industry standards in 29 CFR 1910. Under the general rule, 1910.132, the employer assesses the workplace to determine whether hazards need personal protective equipment.

The same OSHA page lists ANSI standards as voluntary and says compliance with ANSI standards does not ensure compliance with OSHA policy.

ASTM F1897 and F1818

ASTM F1897 is the specification for leg protection for chain saw users. ASTM's page says it specifies minimum requirements for the design, performance, testing and certification of protective clothing and devices that give cut resistance protection to the legs of power chain saw operators. It also says laboratory tests used to check compliance are not to be taken as establishing performance levels for every situation a chain saw operator may meet. ASTM lists F1897-25 as active, with earlier editions from 1998, 2004, 2008, 2014 and 2020.

ASTM F1818 covers footwear. Its scope says it covers minimum requirements for the design, performance, testing and certification of footwear and foot protective devices that give cut resistance protection to the feet of operators of power chainsaws. ASTM lists F1818-15 (2022) as the active edition. OSHA's general foot protection rule, 1910.136, lists consensus standards such as ASTM F-2412 and F-2413 and ANSI Z41, and the list shown there does not include F1818.

ASTM F1414 is a test method, not a clothing specification. It measures the cut resistance of garments and devices worn to protect the legs when operating a chainsaw, and can report chain speed 50 (CS50) or a pass or fail at a stated chain speed, based on the chain jamming or stopping, or not cutting through in under 1.5 seconds.

Forest Service chaps

The US Forest Service's specification 6170-4L, issued April 11, 2025, covers orange, nylon-covered, aramid chain saw chaps. The record of changes says the 28-inch length was removed to improve alignment with ASTM F-1897, leaving 32, 36 and 40 inches. The specification requires third-party certification to a National Fire Protection Association standard for wildland and urban interface firefighting clothing, and a label. The Forest Service's user instructions in the same document say chaps give a minimum level of cut resistance by slowing, jamming and stopping the chain, and that they are to reach at least 2 inches below the boot tops. They also say stitching through the pad stops the protective fibres moving and lowers the cut-through protection. The Forest Service's saw operations PPE chart says saw chaps or cut-resistant pants meet Forest Service 6170-4 or ASTM F-1897.

Canada

Canada has no single national rule. Each province writes its own, and CCOHS says the local legislation sets which edition of a standard applies.

British Columbia

WorkSafeBC's OHS Regulation, section 8.21, says leg protective devices must be worn by a worker operating a chain saw. The device must meet the general requirements of the WorkSafeBC leg protection standard in Schedule 8-A and the performance requirements of one of four routes.

Route	Chain speed applied
WorkSafeBC standard, Schedule 8-A	18.3 m/s (3 600 ft/min)
ASTM F 1414-04	16.8 m/s (3 300 ft/min)
ISO 11393-2, Class 2	24 m/s (4 724 ft/min)
BS EN 381-5:1995, Class 2	24 m/s (4 724 ft/min)

The regulation also says the device label must be permanently affixed, use lettering at least 6 mm (1/4 in) high, and show the manufacturer's name or trademark, the two standards met and the year of manufacture unless it is marked elsewhere on the device. A WorkSafeBC guideline issued May 29, 2018 says ASTM F1414-15 is an acceptable alternate standard at 16.8 m/s. Firefighters using a chain saw at a structural fire are exempt.

Schedule 8-A names three types: pant type, where the pad is secured to the trousers; apron type; and chap type, a garment normally worn outside the trousers. It says the pad must be at least 711 mm (28 in) long and cover 180 degrees of the front of both legs plus 100 mm (4 in) on the left side. Worn, it must extend at minimum from the crotch to within 75 mm (3 in) of the ankle. It must not shrink more than 10% when cleaned as the maker instructs, and it says leg protection showing damage that will affect its performance must be removed from service. Its own test is resistance to being cut through by a running saw chain at 1 098 m/min (3 600 ft/min) or more for at least 1.01 seconds.

For footwear, a WorkSafeBC guideline lists ASTM F 1818-04 for chain saw foot protection, alongside CSA Z195-14 and Z195-02.

Footwear mark and other provinces

CCOHS describes the CSA Z195 chainsaw mark as a white label with a green fir tree symbol, and points to CSA Z195-14 (R2023) for protective footwear. CCOHS's chainsaw PPE page describes leg protection as trousers or chaps with sewn-in ballistic nylon pads, and says trousers that protect the belt line offer more protection than ones that stop at the upper thigh.

Alberta. The OHS Code Part 18 says footwear needed for chainsaw protection must be approved to CSA Z195-14 or ASTM F2413-05, for footwear made on or after March 31, 2023.
Saskatchewan. The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, 2020 deem a worker operating a chain saw to be exposed to the risk of lower-body cuts, and deem a forestry or sawmilling operation a place with a risk of foot injury.
Ontario. The IHSA chain saws page says that on construction projects workers using chainsaws must wear adequate personal protective equipment, including protective clothing, gloves, and eye and hearing protection (O. Reg. 213/91, s. 112). It names no leg standard.

United Kingdom

On its chainsaw PPE page, updated September 18, 2026, HSE lists BS EN 381-5 for leg and groin protection, on or off the ground, BS EN ISO 17249 for chainsaw boots, and BS EN 381-7 for gloves where chainsaw protection is required. It says gaiters to BS EN 381-9 are for occasional users on even ground, worn with steel toe-capped boots. HSE's January 2013 leaflet Chainsaws at work describes boots to BS EN ISO 20345:2004 bearing a shield depicting a chainsaw to show compliance with EN 381-3, so the label on older boots reads differently from the standard HSE names on its page updated September 18, 2026.

The HSE page says AFAG recommends Type C leg protection for aerial work, because of the high all-round chainsaw cut protection. It says that where Type C is impractical, for example because of heat stress, it may be appropriate to use Type A where justified by risk assessment.

Australia

WorkSafe Western Australia's chainsaw page lists leg protection, safety trousers or chaps, among chainsaw PPE and points to Australian Standard AS 2727:1997 for further information. The Queensland Forest Harvesting Code of Practice 2007 says cut resistant trousers or chaps must be worn by a person exposed to the risk of accidentally touching the legs with a chainsaw. It lets a trained operator go without them only on a written risk assessment accepted and signed by the PCBU that states the conditions. It says footwear should, where appropriate, comply with AS/NZS 2210, and that safety gloves complying with AS/NZS 2161 must be worn by anyone needing hand protection, for example in chainsaw work in cold or wet conditions.

New Zealand

WorkSafe New Zealand's forestry code, in its appendix on standards, says that for PPE the mark or stamp shows compliance with the relevant standard, and that the listed standards are the minimum, with equal or better standards allowed.

Item	Standard listed
Chainsaw leg protection	AS/NZS 4453.3:1997, or one with the same or more stringent criteria
Protective toe caps	AS/NZS 2210.1:2009
Gloves	NZS 5812:1982, or equal

In the WorkSafe New Zealand arboriculture code of practice, the rule is that all workers required to use a chainsaw shall wear safety leg protection complying with AS/NZS 4453.3 1997, Protective clothing for users of hand held chainsaws, Part 3, Protective leg wear, or another standard with the same or more stringent criteria.

Side by side

Place	Leg protection named	Boots named
United States	Cut-resistant material (OSHA); ASTM F1897 (Forest Service)	Cut-resistant (OSHA); ASTM F1818 exists
British Columbia	ISO 11393-2, ASTM F1414, BS EN 381-5, WorkSafeBC standard	CSA Z195, ASTM F1818-04
United Kingdom	BS EN 381-5 (HSE)	BS EN ISO 17249 (HSE)
Australia	Cut resistant trousers or chaps, no number (Queensland)	AS/NZS 2210 (Queensland)
New Zealand	AS/NZS 4453.3:1997	AS/NZS 2210.1:2009 toe caps

The guides on safety rules by country and the glossary put these rules in wider context.