Protect your knees with right knee pads

Kneeling is hard work on your knees – so you need to protect them well

If you’re a tradesman, you’ll often be down on your knees throughout the working day, and you know all about the enormous load your knees are exposed to. In fact, tradesmen’s knees take more strain than many top-level athletes!

EN 14404 knee pads for work trousers

Fortunately, it’s easy to protect your knees with knee pads, which come in many different designs. You need to make sure the knee pads fit the knee pad pockets as well as possible. Most often, knee pads and trousers of the same brand will be the best combination, as they’re designed to go together. Incidentally, that’s the only way to comply with the EN 14404 standard.

At cheap-workwear.com, you can get work trousers and knee pads that fit together from brands such as Snickers, Blåkläder, Mascot, Engel, Kansas, Fristads and several others.

Divisions of EN 14404 into types and levels

Type 1

The knee pads are fastened around the leg and are independent of the clothing.

Type 2

Knee pads made of foam or another protective material. The knee pads are placed in the knee pocket of the trousers or sewn onto the pants.

Type 3

This type of knee protector does not need to be fastened to the trousers or legs but can instead be moved around. Type 3 knee protectors can be used for each knee individually or for both knees simultaneously.

Performance Level 0

The knee pads are suitable for use on a flat surface. They do not protect against penetration.

Performance Level 1

The knee pads can be used on both flat and uneven surfaces. They provide protection against penetration with a strength of at least 100 ±5 N.

Performance Level 2

The knee pads can be used on both flat and uneven surfaces and in extreme working conditions. They provide protection against penetration with a strength of at least 250 ±10 N.

How should knee pads fit?

To position your knee pads where they do the most good, choose work trousers of the right leg length for you. If your trousers are too long, the knee pads will sit on your shins, and if they’re too short, they’ll sit on the thighs – and either way, that’s no good!

The knee pads should fit into the knee pad pockets. Make sure they’re not too small so they move around, or too large so they become wedged and inflexible. Some work trousers let you adjust how high the knee pad sits for a perfect fit. On our knee pads page, you can filter by measurements in centimetres to find the size you need.

Different types of knee pads

Often, affordable knee pads are made of foam or polyethylene, which is light, flexible, stable and provides good pressure distribution. They are not suitable for washing with harsh detergents or at high temperatures, so you’ll have to remove them before washing your work trousers.
Knee pads made of neoprene or cellular rubber are harder and firmer than those made of foam or polyethylene, which means that they retain their shape for a long time. Some of them can be washed with the trousers; you’ll need to check the care label.
Some Snickers knee pads have polyethylene balls, which provide good shock absorption and keep their shape in even the toughest conditions. They stay where they need to be, even when you’re crawling. That makes them very suitable for flooring, and they can last a very long time.
You can also get ergonomic knee pads, which are adapted to the shape of your knee, which makes them very comfortable.
Cut-resistant knee pads may be needed to protect against sharp objects. Shearproof may sound like it’s a hard material, but it’s not. They are both ergonomic, with air ducts, and extremely comfortable.
For work on very uneven surfaces, you can get knee pads with a hard plastic shell. These must be attached to the outside of the trousers with an easy hook-and-loop fastening.
If you wear work shorts, this should not prevent you from using knee pads. You can get shorts with pockets for knee pads.
Gel knee pads are comfortable, because the thick gel adapts to your knees.

When should knee pads be replaced?

When you get a pair of new work pants with knee pad pockets, you also need new knee pads. You should not mount the old knee pads as they are far from having the protective properties that new ones have. Also, make it a habit to check the condition of your knee pads when washing your work pants. It should be such that when you press on the knee pads, they should regain shape - if they do not, then they can not protect the knees either, and it is therefore time to replace them.

With this explanation, you should be able to choose knee pads that fit well on your knees so that they can last a lifetime.