Every day, in nearly every type of U.S. work setting, from crop fields, warehouses, health care facilities, and construction sites to mines, plants, and emergency rescue operations, personal protective technologies are used to reduce workers' risk of job-related injury, illness, and death. These technologies include personal protective devices such as respirators, chemical-resistant clothing, hearing protectors, and safety goggles and glasses that provide a barrier between the worker and an occupational safety or health risk. In particular, respirators are a required component of many occupational safety and health programs, and may represent a worker's last line of defense against exposure to toxic fumes, vapors, or dust. Personal protective technologies also include devices that provide a worker with early warning of a hazard or otherwise help keep the worker safe from harm, such as sensors that detect toxic atmospheres and communication devices used for safe deployment of emergency workers.
At the request of Congress, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) established the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) as one of two major research laboratories in Pittsburgh, PA. In Senate Rpt. 106-293 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill, 2001 Filed Under Authority of the Order of the Senate January 6, 1999, Congress outlined the need for this new division:
"It has been brought to the Committee's attention the need for design, testing and state-of-the-art equipment for this nation's... miners, firefighters, healthcare, agricultural and industrial workers... (Also) the Committee encourages NIOSH to carry out research, testing and related activities aimed at protecting workers who respond to public health needs in the event of a terrorist incident. The Committee encourages CDC to organize and implement a national personal protective equipment laboratory."
NPPTL focuses expertise from many scientific disciplines to advance federal research on respirators and other personal protective technologies for workers. NPPTL's efforts are essential for applying state-of-the-art science to meet the increasingly complex occupational safety and health challenges of the 21st Century. NPPTL's strategic research program will ensure that the development of new personal protective equipment keeps pace with employer and worker needs as work settings and worker populations change and new technologies emerge. NPPTL research will also respond to the critical need for effective protective technologies for first responders in terrorist events and other disasters. NPPTL incorporates NIOSH's longstanding program for testing and approving respirators for use in traditional work settings. It also builds on that program to test and approve respirators for use by first responders against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear agents.
The mission of NIOSH's Personal Protective Technology (PPT) program and NPPTL is to prevent work-related injury, illness, and death, by advancing the state of knowledge and application of personal protective technologies (PPT). The vision is to be the leading provider of quality, relevant, and timely PPT research, training, and evaluation.
Additional Information about NPPTL can be found in NIOSH Publication 2003-127, "National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory," as well as the NPPTL Strategic Plan.