DHS Equipment Standards

For Immediate Release
Press Office
Contact: 202-282-8010
February 26, 2004

The Department of Homeland Security, through its Science and Technology division, has adopted the following standards for personal protective equipment to protect first responders against Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive (CBRNE) threats.  These standards, which are outlined below were developed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) or the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Except where noted, these standards have been adopted by the InterAgency Board for Equipment Standardization and InterOperability (IAB), as listed in the organization's 2002 Annual Report:

NIOSH Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Standard for Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) (December 2001) - This standard establishes performance and design requirements to certify Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) for use in chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) exposures for use by first responders.  The standard employs a three tier certification program.  The first two tiers of the program ensure the SCBA meets current minimum NIOSH requirements and the enhanced requirements of the NFPA 1981 standard, including greater flow, improved breathing resistance, environmental stresses, communications, and vision.  The third tier incorporates special testing conducted by NIOSH to identify the hazard a first responder is likely to encounter at a terrorist event and to define levels of respiratory protection required for the first responder.

NIOSH Standard for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Full Facepiece Air Purifying Respirator (APR) (April 2003)** - The purpose of this standard is to specify minimum requirements to determine the effectiveness of full facepiece air purifying respirators (APR), commonly referred to as gas masks, used during entry into chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) atmospheres not immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH).  Atmospheres that are above IDLH concentrations require the use of Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus.

NIOSH Standard for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Air-Purifying Escape Respirator and CBRN Self-Contained Escape Respirator (October 2003)** - Escape respirators, which are also known as escape hoods, come in two types.  In the first type, called an air-purifying escape respirator, a filter canister is mounted on the hood.  The user breathes outside air through the canister, which filters out harmful contaminants before the air is inhaled.  The second type, called a self-contained escape respirator, consists of a hood with a tightly fitting neck piece and a contained source of breathing air.  The hood provides a barrier against contaminated outside air, and the user breathes air from the attached source.  The purpose of this standard is to specify minimum requirements to determine the effectiveness of escape respirators that address CBRN materials identified as inhalation hazards from possible terrorist events for use by the general working population.

NFPA 1951: Standard on Protective Ensemble for USAR Operations, 2001 Edition - USAR operations in urban and other non-wilderness locations are complex incidents requiring specially trained personnel and special equipment to complete the mission.  NFPA 1951 establishes minimum requirements for garments, head protection, gloves, and footwear, for fire and emergency services personnel operating at technical rescue incidents involving building or structural collapse, vehicle/person extrication, confined space entry, trench/cave-in rescue, rope rescue, and similar incidents.  The requirements of the standard address the design, performance, testing, and certification of these ensembles and ensemble elements to protect against physical, environmental, thermal, chemical splash, and blood-borne hazards associated with USAR operations.

NFPA 1981, Standard on Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus for Fire and Emergency Services, 2002 edition - This document specifies the minimum requirements for the design, performance, testing, and certification of SCBA for fire and emergency services personnel. The 2002 NFPA 1981 now sets requirements for heads-up displays (HUD) that provide the SCBA user with:

• Information regarding breathing air supply status
• Alerts that notify users when the breathing air supply is at 50 percent of full
• Where the HUD is powered by battery power source, a low battery alert that signals when the charge is reduced to the level where the HUD can operate only for 2 more hours.

This edition also includes new requirements for a Rapid Intervention Company/Crew (RIC) Universal Air Connection (UAC) (or RIC UAC) on all new SCBA. The RIC UAC provides a standard connection that allows a rescue breathing air supply to be connected to a victim fire fighter or other emergency services responder's SCBA to replenish the breathing air in the SCBA breathing air cylinder when the victim can not be rapidly moved to a safe atmosphere.

NFPA 1991: Standard on Vapor-Protective Ensembles for Hazardous Materials Emergencies, 2000 Edition  - NFPA 1991 specifies minimum requirements for design, performance, testing, and certification of elements of vapor-protective ensembles for emergency responders to hazardous materials incidents, and chemical or biological terrorism incidents, for protection from specified chemical vapor, liquid splash, and particulate exposures. The Standard also provides additional optional requirements for protection from chemical and biological agents that could be released during a terrorism incident, chemical flash fire protection, liquefied gas protection, and combined chemical flash fire and liquefied gas protection.

NFPA 1994: Standard on Protective Ensembles for Chemical/Biological Terrorism Incidents, 2001 Edition - NFPA 1994 establishes minimum requirements for ensembles and ensemble elements for fire and emergency services personnel exposed to victims and agents during assessment, extrication, rescue, triage, and treatment operations at chemical and biological terrorism incidents. The requirements of the standard address the design, performance, testing, documentation, and certification of these protective ensembles that provide protection for fire and emergency services personnel from terrorism agents including dual-use industrial chemicals, chemical terrorism agents, or biological terrorism agents.  The standard establishes three levels of protective ensembles, Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 ensembles, that could be selected for protection of fire and emergency services personnel based on what the incident risk analysis indicates is necessary protection for the intended operations.

NFPA 1999: Standard on Protective Clothing for Emergency Medical Operations, 2003 Edition - NFPA 1999 establishes minimum performance requirements for ensembles and ensemble elements to protect first responders from contact with blood and body fluid-borne pathogens when providing victim or patient care during emergency medical operations. This standard specifies minimum documentation, design, performance, testing, and certification requirements for new-single use and new multiple-use emergency medical clothing used by fire and emergency services personnel during emergency medical service (EMS) operations. These items include:

• Garments -- both full and partial, upper and lower torso protection
• Three types of gloves -- examination gloves for patient care, work gloves for situations that post higher physical hazards such as extrication, and cleaning gloves for handling and cleaning contaminated EMS equipment
• Footwear
• Face protection

EMS personal protective equipment (PPE) must provide blood and body fluid pathogen barrier protection to whatever parts of the body they cover. While no partial protection is allowed for the EMS PPE item, the items might be configured to cover only part of the upper or lower torso, such as arms with sleeve protectors, torso front with apron styled garments, and face with face shields.

** Denotes standards not yet adopted by the IAB.  These NIOSH standards will be proposed for adoption by the IAB at the next meeting, March 2004.