N016
Respiratory
Self-Escape Devices: Imperative Need for Establishing
a New Category of
Respiratory Protective Equipment
Nikolay Plate
Vassiliy Batyrev Professor
Marina Bloudyan
Expert
Group of the Association of Developers,
Manufacturers and Suppliers of PPE,
Juri G. Sorokin
Association of
Manufacturers and Suppliers of PPE
ABSTRACT
The paper covers the red-hot issue of
providing protection against toxic chemical substances (TCS) to the civil
population. To a great extent the
solution of the problem depends on the availability of respiratory protective
equipment (RPE) at the very moment an emergency situation (accident) or a
terrorist act occur.
It is shown that at present the current
system of providing protection to the civil population is mainly based on the
use of traditional RPE (gas masks for civilians), which cannot be regarded as
devices for permanent carrying on the person due to its big weight/size. As the TCS poisonous effect in emergencies is
nearly immediate, the civilians, especially if gathered in public places, are
actually prevented from using the protective devices efficiently. The paper focuses on that circumstance
setting forth the rationale for the development and massive introduction of a
compact and small-size filtering device with a hood for self-rescue, which can
always be carried on the person. It has
been underlined that such devices have a number of advantages, if compared to
the gas masks for civilians, like their small mass/size parameters, ergonomic
characteristics and can be regarded as a basic means for providing protection
to the wearer during at least several tens of minutes, an extra time sufficient
to leave the toxic area.
The core of the paper is thoroughly
focused on how the technical and performance characteristics of self-escape
devices have been chosen and substantiated.
The grounds are selected following a number of
foreseeable scenarios of terrorist acts, which can be perpetrated in public
places involving the use of highly toxic chemical substances. Attention is paid both to closed structural
ventilated or not ventilated premises and to outdoor areas.
These results serve as a basis for
establishing the paper main theses. It
is concluded that filtering devices with a hood for self-rescue can provide a
protection declared by the manufacturer in emergency situations, at the levels
in compliance with national and international standards and regulations
currently in force, a task of highest priority nowadays.