- Author
- Ronk, R. M.
- Title
- NIOSH Testimony on Fire Departments.
- Coporate
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
- fire fighters | respirators | self contained breathing apparatus | safety
- Identifiers
- safety equipment; personal protective equipment
- Abstract
- This testimony concerns the views of NIOSH in support of OSHA's proposed requirement that interior structural fire fighters wear positive pressure self contained brathing apparatus. NIOSH views this requirement as essential to protecting the lives of firefighters in such critical situations, based on their experience in testing approximately 1500 types of respirators. The only way to safeguard the wearer adequately is to maintain a slight positive pressure in the facepiece. Various investigators have examined the face seal leakage problem and have found that field usage does result in a significantly higher variance in penetration than in strictly controlled laboratory tests. NIOSH is attempting to develop a mathematical model which can be used to make valid predictions of face seal penetration with high levels of confidence. Until a proven quantitative facepiece fitting system is devised, it is imperative that positive pressure apparatus be used for critical situations.