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The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, has undertaken a study to determine how well self-contained self-rescuers (SCSRs), deployed in accordance with federal regulations (30 CFR 75.1714), hold up in the underground enviroment with regard to both physical damage and aging. This report presents findings regarding laboratory-tested SCSRs in the seventh phase of testing from May 1999 to August 2000. The SCRSs were tested on human subjects and on a breathing and metabolic simulator. The reslults indicate that most of the apparatus, if they pass their approved inspection criteria, perform satisfactoraly. The developed CSE SR-100s, however, exhibited significantly higher inhaled carbon dioxide (CO2) levels than new units. as they did the in the previous two phases. Several Draeger OXY K-Pluses that rattled when shaken were found to have pottasum superoxide (KO2) particles throughout the breathing circuit, incluiding the mouthpiece. Draeger investigated the problem and developed a shake test to detect damaged units. The durations of new Ocenco M-20s were statistically significantly longer than those of deployed units, although only by 2 min.
| Author(s): | Kyriazi-N, Shubilla-JP |
| Reference: | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2001-127, Report of Investigations 9656, 2002 Mar :1-13 |
2002-127 (PDF, 2420 KB)
