The Fire Protection Research Foundation releases workshop proceedings on emergency first responder respirator thermal characteristics.
Published: 07 September, 2011
The report, entitled ‘Emergency First Responder Respirator Thermal Characteristics’, identifies performance needs and establishes research priorities to address the thermal characteristics of respiratory protective equipment used by emergency first responders.
The workshop upon which the report is based was jointly hosted by the FPRF, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health - National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NIOSH-NPPTL).
At the heart of this issue lies the escalating interest involving the integrity of face pieces used with firefighter self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). Of specific interest by workshop attendees and NFPA technical committees responsible for emergency responder personal protective equipment (PPE) is the performance of these face pieces to thermal insult, and whether they provide acceptable protection consistent with the performance expectations of the full PPE ensemble required by current NFPA standards.
The workshop was designed to clarify research needs to reduce the problem of heat-related respirator failures during firefighting.
As a result of the proceedings, primary concerns and research priorities were identified. They were: the characterization of the firefighter environment, performance of current and new technology, development of representative and realistic testing, and improvements to firefighter training on the limitations of protective equipment. The report provides guidance for research and testing centres to address important real-world problems that are directly confronting today’s firefighters using SCBA.
