NIOSH halts testing of CBRN respirators

On November 27, 2013, Roland Berry Ann, acting chief, Technology Evaluation Branch, National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), issued an alert relative to chemical warfare agent (CWA) testing for NIOSH approval of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) respirators.

NIOSH explained that the Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center’s (ECBC) Test Laboratory, which conducts the CWA testing portion of CBRN testing that supports the NIOSH respirator approvals, notified NIOSH on Nov. 18, 2013, that there were errors with some of its test data. The CWA concentrations it used in the testing were lower than those required by NIOSH test procedures.

A majority of the respirators tested for NIOSH to verify compliance with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1981, Standard on Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) for Emergency Services, 2013 edition, from July 2012 through Oct. 2013 are affected by these errors. This affects a small number of SCBA tested to the 2007 edition of NFPA 1981 and all units tested to date for compliance with the 2013 edition of NFPA 1981.

Note: Only the ability of the respirator configurations to protect against CWAs is affected. These respirators meet NIOSH approval of all of the non-CBRN protections. The non-CBRN protections are verified by NIOSH-conducted tests and evaluations.

Do not use the affected respirator configurations to provide protection against CWA hazards until retesting has verified that these protections are provided.

NIOSH asked manufacturers on Nov. 22, 2013, to immediately stop labeling any affected respirator configurations as CBRN-approved and to notify customers who may have purchased the affected respirator configurations.

Manufacturers whose respirators’ completed or pending CBRN approvals have been affected by these testing errors include Avon, Draeger, Immediate Response Technologies, MSA, and Scott Safety. Scott Safety has delivered respirator configurations whose testing has been affected by these testing errors. Its Technical Bulletin, Scott Safety End User Notification: NIOSH CBRN Testing, is available at: https://www.scottsafety.com/en/us/Pages/servicecommunication.aspx.

Scott Technical Support may be obtained by calling 1-800-247-7257 or 1-800-AIR-PAKS or by emailing ScottTechSupport@tycoint.com. Scott Safety has notified customers who have purchased respirator configurations adversely affected by these testing errors.

ECBC, which has temporarily halted operations, will validate all test procedures before resuming operations. The CWA retesting at ECBC of all respirators tested during the July 2012 through Oct. 2013 period was expected to resume with an expedited schedule by January 2014 and to be completed by April 1, 2014. NIOSH is working with ECBC to complete the retesting and coordinating with the Safety Equipment Institute to issue these CBRN SCBA approvals as quickly as possible.

NIOSH is also doing the following:

• Working with all five affected manufacturers to expedite identification and NIOSH receipt of appropriate configurations to be retested and expeditiously resolve the current issues.
• Working with the NFPA to mitigate the impact of these delays in completing NFPA 1981, 2013 edition approvals and to enable the NFPA to take appropriate actions.
• Working with the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency–Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program Office to discuss the need to extend the availability of the funds for equipment grants.

NIOSH will keep all interested parties informed until this matter is resolved. The NIOSH User Alert can be viewed at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/usernotices/notices/notice11272013.html.

The NFPA Standards Council issued Tentative Interim Amendment #13-1 (TIA), which extended until Feb. 28, 2014, the deadline for certification organizations and manufacturers to cease labeling SCBA as compliant to the 2007 edition of NFPA 1981. Since NIOSH estimates that its expedited retesting plan will be completed by April 1, 2014, it has requested the Respiratory Protection Equipment Technical Committee to consider extending or removing the revised end date authorized in TIA 13-1.

NFPA 1982, Standard on Personal Alert Safety Systems (PASS), is also affected, since it recommends the same certification and testing compliance dates as NFPA 1981. The Electronic Safety Equipment Technical Committee and the Respiratory Protection Technical Committee are developing a joint response to the NIOSH request. To stay up to date on any proposed changes, visit the NFPA 1981 Document Information Page at www.nfpa.org/1981 or the Document Information Page for NFPA 1982 at www.nfpa.org/1982, and sign up to be alerted of any future actions.

Fire service, Congress studying impact of PPACA on volunteers

Are volunteer firefighters “employees” of fire departments, and are fire departments obligated to provide health insurance for them if they serve more than 30 hours a week at the fire department? According to the Congressional Fire Services Institute (CFSI), these questions have arisen as the result of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruling that says volunteer firefighters who receive nominal benefits from their fire departments-including stipends, end-of-the-year banquets, and awards-are fire department “employees” and the passing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The latter states that employers with more than 50 full-time employees (or their equivalents) must provide health insurance to employees who work more than 30 hours a week.

The CFSI, the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) are working with bipartisan members of Congress and the Administration to learn the answers to these questions. The obligation to provide health insurance to volunteer firefighters “could cause serious financial hardship to fire departments,” the CFSI explains in a press release.

The organizations and several members of Congress have sent letters to the Acting Commissioner of the IRS asking that the agency rescind the regulations or guidance that establishes volunteer firefighters who receive nominal compensation as employees under PPACA.

In December, Senator Mark Warner (VA) and Congressman Lou Barletta (PA-11) introduced the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act (H.R. 3685 and S. 1798), which, according to the NVFC, clarifies that “qualified emergency services volunteers” will not be counted as employees under the PPACA. “The legislation was introduced since the IRS had not yet responded to the letters from the fire service organizations and legislators at press time, the NVFC explains.

For an update on this issue, go to www.cfsi.org, www.nvfc.org, or www.iafc.org.

ASTM standard addresses fire conditions in WUI areas

ASTM International is developing ASTM WK37414, Test Method for Flammability and Resistance of Eaves and Horizontal Projections to Fire Penetration, whose goal is “to alleviate fire conditions that exist due to eaves and other projections in structures that exist in wildland-urban interface areas.” Subcommittee E05.14 on External Fire Exposures, part of ASTM International Committee E05 on Fire Standards, is overseeing the document.

The fire test response standard, the ASTM explains, “will cover the measurement of the relative fire characteristics of the exposed underside of both open and closed projections, such as horizontal soffits and extended open roof eaves, floor projections, and exposed under-floor areas to direct flame impingement from a simulated fire originating outside a building.”

“Property owners will be able to use new products tested to ASTM WK37417 to install at overhang areas, removing a portion of the wildfire risk to structures,” says John Simontacchi, CEO/founder, Firefree Coatings Inc. and an E05 member. Products that pass the standard (after it has been approved), he notes, would be available from suppliers such as hardware stores, lumberyards, and manufacturers.

According to the ASTM, manufacturers can use the standard as a guideline when developing new products to meet WUI codes, regulatory bodies can use it as a guideline for approving products that have met the standard’s requirements, consumers will use it to make better choices when purchasing products for the eave/horizontal projection problem in WUI areas, and fire testing laboratories can use it to conduct the tests specified in the standard.