These garments, such as uniforms worn by police and emergency medical services personnel, provide almost no protection from the harmful effects of dangerous goods.
This category of clothing, often called turnout or bunker gear, means the protective clothing normally worn by fire fighters during structural fire fighting operations. It includes a helmet, coat, pants, boots, gloves and a hood to cover parts of the head not protected by the helmet and facepiece. This clothing must be used with full-facepiece positive pressure self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). This protective clothing should, at a minimum, meet the OSHA Fire Brigades Standard (29 CFR 1910.156).
Structural fire fighters' protective clothing provides limited protection from heat and cold, but may not provide adequate protection from the harmful vapors or liquids that are encountered during dangerous goods incidents.
Each guide includes a statement about the use of SFPC in incidents involving those materials referenced by that guide. Some guides state that SFPC provides limited protection. In those cases, the responder wearing SFPC and SCBA may be able to perform an expedient, that is quick "in-and-out", operation. However, this type of operation can place the responder at risk of exposure, injury or death. The incident commander makes the decision to perform this operation only if an overriding benefit can be gained (i.e., perform an immediate rescue, turn off a valve to control a leak, etc.).
Please note that the coverall-type protective clothing customarily worn to fight fires in forests or wildlands is not SFPC and is not recommended nor referred to elsewhere in this guidebook .
This apparatus provides a constant, positive pressure flow of air within the facepiece.
You should always use an SCBA certified by NIOSH and the Department of Labor/Mine Safety and Health Administration, in accordance with:
Chemical-cartridge respirators or other filtering masks are not acceptable substitutes for positive pressure SCBA . Demand-type SCBA does not meet the OSHA 29 CFR 1910 .156 (f)(1)(i) of the Fire Brigades Standard .
If you suspect a chemical warfare agent is involved in an incident, use NIOSH-certified respirators with CBRN protection.
N95 respirators are the most common of the seven types of particulate filtering facepiece respirators. This product filters at least 95% of airborne particles (0.3 microns), but is not resistant to oil. N95 filtering facepiece respirators do not protect against gases and vapors.
Powered air-purifying respirators (PAPR) force ambient air through the air-purifying cartridge or filter into the facepiece . A PAPR does not supply oxygen or air from a separate source (e .g ., cylinders).
For you to safely use this type of protective clothing and equipment, you need specific skills developed through training and experience. This type of special clothing may protect against one chemical but be readily permeated by chemicals for which it was not designed. Therefore, do not use this type of protective clothing unless it is compatible with the released material. Also, be aware that it offers little or no protection against heat and/or cold.
Examples of this type of equipment have been described as:
No single protective clothing material will protect you from all hazardous materials/dangerous goods . Do not assume any protective clothing is resistant to cold and/or heat or flame exposure, unless certified by the manufacturer (NFPA 1991 5-3 Flammability Resistance Test and 5-6 Cold Temperature Performance Test).
*Consult the glossary for more information about protection levels under the heading “Protective Clothing.”