NIST
Plays Key Role in Developing Protective Equipment
Standards For First Responders
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
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