NCJ Number
192327
Date Published
1999
Length
64 pages
Annotation
This summary report presented the results from six Occupational Safety and Health Level B suit designs to determine their ability to protect in a chemical warfare agent or biological agent environment.
Abstract
In 1996, the Department of Defense created the Domestic Preparedness Program. One of the goals of the program was to enhance Federal, State, and local emergency and hazardous material in response to nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) terrorism incidents. In some instances, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Level B protective suits may be needed to enter a contaminated area. Limited information was available regarding the effectiveness of commercially available and commonly used OSHA Level B suits as protection against chemical warfare (CW) agents. Level B protective suits are chemical-resistant clothing that protect the wearer from liquid chemicals. Level B protection consists of inner and outer gloves, chemical-resistant safety boots and hard hat with pressure-demand full-facepiece SCBA or pressure-demand supplied-air respirator with escape SCBA. Level B, rather than Level A, protection is used when a high level of respiratory protection is required but less skin protection is necessary. This study examined some commonly used OSHA Level B suits to determine how effective they were at resisting vapor permeation from liquid contamination by chemical agents Sarin (GB) and Mustard (HD) and droplet penetration by corn-oil aerosol used to simulate biological or chemical particulates. This information was intended for emergency responders as an aid in evaluating Level B suits. The findings supplements data and information provided by the suits’ manufacturers. The suits are tested in new, as received condition. The researchers tested swatches of material from each suit design for resistance to permeation for both GB and HD. The researchers then calculated the estimated time it would take to permeate the suit with sufficient agent to cause physiological effects in a suit wearer. The suits were also tested for their protection factor in an aerosol environment. Protection factor was defined as the ratio between the challenge concentration outside the suit and the measured concentration inside the suit. The report described the tests, calculated breakthrough times and presented the results of overall protection factors. The appendices include: A) Level B Suits Chosen for Testing; B) Modified Static Diffusion Test Procedures; C) Aerosol Simulant Test Procedure; D) MSA Blue Max; E) Lakeland Tychem 9400; F) Kappler CP3; G) MarMAc Tyvek/Saranex; H) ILC Dover Model 16-51; I) Trelleborg Splash 700; J) Overall test results.