For the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is facilitating development of a suite of national standards that establish minimum performance requirements for respirators and other essential equipment designed to protect first responders against chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) hazards. Announced on February 26, 2004, the first of these DHS standards—three for respiratory equipment and five for protective clothing—incorporate expertise and technical contributions from private-sector standards organizations and federal agencies. They also reduce complexity for pubic safety organizations and procurement officials, ensuring consistency across standards and organizations by linking and cross-referencing corresponding performance specifications.

To receive DHS equipment grants, state and local governments will be required to purchase equipment items that comply with the department’s newly adopted standards.

The eight standards address high-priority protective-equipment needs identified by the Interagency Board (IAB) for Equipment Standardization and Interoperability. In 1998, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Defense created the IAB to advise federal, state and local agencies on the selection and use of the best available equipment and procedures for first responders. In turn, the year-old DHS, which Congress charged with identifying, evaluating, and certifying important homeland security technologies and services, leverages standards already adopted by the IAB and works in partnership to address unresolved needs and issues.

IAB designated NIST’s Office of Law Enforcement Standards to coordinate development of standards for respiratory equipment, suits, gloves, and other gear that protect against CBRNE hazards. In 2003, DHS provided funding that has enabled the Office to expand the scope of its activities and accelerate its progress.

Protective Clothing and Respirators

The DHS-approved standards include five National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards that establish minimum performance requirements for components and ensembles of personal protective equipment for emergency personnel.¹ The other standards², covering three main categories of respiratory protection equipment, are standards of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the federal agency charged with ensuring the adequacy of respiratory equipment used in the workplace.

Standards to ensure that breathing equipment can withstand biological and chemical assaults were the highest-priority need identified by the IAB committee on personal protective equipment. To address this critical void, NIST enlisted the expertise and participation of the U.S Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command (now the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command) as well as that of other organizations to assist NIOSH as it developed respiratory standards to protect against CBRN hazards.

As a result of such collaborations, the newly adopted DHS standards are now linked with one another. For example, the NIOSH standard for self-contained breathing apparatus, which uses a pressurized tank to supply air, requires that the equipment also must meet NFPA standards for heat and flame resistance. Correspondingly, the NFPA standards are now being updated to require respiratory equipment to be certified to NIOSH CBRN standards.

NIST Role, Contributions

As IAB’s “executive agent,” NIST’s Office of Law Enforcement Standards is responsible for implementing a full national suite of first-responder equipment standards that establish a base level of protection against CBRN agents, as well as explosive hazards. The Office’s work in this area, then funded by the National Institute of Justice, predates the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In 2000, for example, its Critical Incident Technologies Program issued the first in a series of guides to help state and local governments and public safety organizations select equipment that protects against chemical and other toxic agents. Also in 2000, NIST and NIOSH formally launched joint efforts to develop standards for all types of respiratory equipment required to counter terrorist assaults. Broadened since then to include other organizations, this collaboration resulted in the three respiratory equipment standards adopted by DHS.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2003 by NIST’s parent organization, the Commerce Department’s Technology Administration, and DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate, the new department has provided funding to expand and expedite efforts of the NIST-managed program to develop equipment standards and test methods to safeguard first responders against CBRNE hazards. Related jobs carried out under this program include developing standards for detection and decontamination equipment, preparing guides and decision aids for selecting and maintaining equipment, and developing methods for certifying laboratories that test equipment for compliance with CBRNE standards.

To meet its responsibility to identify, evaluate, and certify important homeland security technologies and services, DHS is leveraging the capabilities and expertise of private-sector standard development organizations and of NIST and other federal agencies with mission-related duties aligned with homeland security needs.

¹ The five NFPA standards adopted by DHS are: NFPA 1951:Protective Ensemble for Urban Search and Rescue Operations (2001 Edition); NFPA 1981: Standard on Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus for Fire and Emergency Services, (2002 edition); NFPA 1991: Standard on Vapor-Protective Ensembles for Hazardous Materials Emergencies (2000 Edition); NFPA 1994: Standard on Protective Ensembles for Chemical/Biological Terrorism Incidents (2001 Edition); and NFPA 1999: Standard on Protective Clothing for Emergency Medical Operations (2003 Edition).

²The three NIOSH standards adopted by DHS are: NIOSH CBRN Standard for Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (December 2001); NIOSH Standard for CBRN Full Facepiece Air Purifying Respirator (APR); and NIOSH Standard for CBRN Air-Purifying Escape Respirator and CBRN Self-Contained Escape Respirator (September 2003).

Date created: 03/01/04
Last updated: 03/01/04
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov