DIN 12899-3 German Standard
The European Union standard EN 15154 is uncompleted and so there are many situations where there is no clear guidance from European legislation. A particularly large gap within the standards is the provision of safety body showers in all production and logistics sites. To fill this gap German standards board have created DIN 12899-3 which specifies the design parameter for both plumbed and unplumbed (tank showers) for deployment in logistics and production sites.
Scope
The DIN 12899-3 standard covers safety showers for use in production and logistics sites. The standard covers both tank and plumbed in body showers. For eye showers and face wash DIN 12899-3 explicitly refers to the EN 15154.2 standard.
Main recommendations
Flow rates
This German standard differs from other standards in that it splits body showers into 3 separate classes with 2 different flow rate bands.
Class 1 showers have flow rates of between 30 and 60 litres per minute
Class 2 showers have flow rates of between 60 and 100 litres per minute
Class 3 showers have flow rates of over 100 litres per minute
Fluid distribution
For plumbed in showers at a distance of 700mm below the shower head
Class 1 showers should distribute 50% (+/-10%)of their fluid within a 200mm radius of the shower head and over 95% within a 400mm radius
Class 2 showers should distribute 50% (+/-10%)of their fluid within a 200mm radius of the shower head
and over 95% within a 400mm radius
Class 3 showers should distribute 50% (+/-10%)of their fluid within a 200mm radius of the shower head and over 70% within a 400mm radius
For tank showers the fluid distribution should be as for Class 3 regardless of flow rate.
Fluid temperature and quality
The fluid should be of local drinking standards. The DIN standard reference EN 15154.1's advisory note for water temperature. So it is advised, although not compulsory, that water is kept between 15oC and 37oC