Understanding the breathing gas capacities (ratings) of escape respirators for mineworker use

The following information will help workers understand the meaning of breathing gas capacity of a jointly approved National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) closed-circuit escape respirator (CCER). Understanding the uses and limitations of the CCER is important in planning for an escape during a mine emergency.by R. Metzler, T. Rehak, J. Szalajda, R. Berry Ann.May 2013.Also available via the World Wide Web as an Acrobat .pdf file (710 KB, 4 p.)

Self-contained self-rescuer long term field evaluation: combined eighth and ninth phase results

"The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) conduct a Long Term Field Evaluation (LTFE) program to evaluate deployed self-contained self-rescuers (SCSRs). The objective of the program is to evaluate how well SCSRs endure the underground coal mining environment with regard to both physical damage and aging when they are deployed in accordance with Federal regulations (30 CFR 75.1714). This report presents findings of the combined eighth and ninth phases of the LTFE. For these phases, over four hundred SCSRs were evaluated. The units tested include the CSE SR-100, Draeger Oxy K-Plus, MSA Life-saver 60, and the OCENCO EBA 6.5. The OCENCO M-20 was evaluated only in Phase 9. Testing was performed between December 2000 and April 2004. Results of the evaluation indicate that all SCSRs experience some performance degradation due to the mining environment. Observed degradation varies from elevated levels of carbon dioxide, high breathing resistance, and reduced capacity. Mechanical degradation to the SCSR components included breathing hoses, chemical beds, outer cases and seals. The LTFE tests discussed in this report are different from tests performed for SCSR certification to the requirements of 42 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 84 (42 CFR, Part 84). LTFE tests reported here are conducted to an end point, oxygen depletion, to enable comparison of the duration of new and deployed SCSRs. The method for obtaining deployed SCSRs for this evaluation was not a random selection from the deployed population of SCSRs. Although the results of these tests are useful for observing performance of the tested SCSRs, they are not representative of all deployed SCSRs. A new evaluation protocol, with revised sampling strategies, test methods, and reporting procedures, is currently being designed to enhance the generalizability of the results. This program will be implemented following completion of Phase 10 of the current LTFE protocol. " - NIOSHTIC-2Title from title screen (viewed on July 9, 2008)."October 2006."Mode of access: Internet at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health web site. Address as of 7/9/08: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/pubs/pdfs/2007-103.pdf; current access available via PURL

Estimating the permeation resistance of nonporous barrier polymers to sulfur mustard (HD) and sarin (GB) chemical warfare agents using liquid simulants

"The purpose of this document is to report the results of the NIOSH Chemical Warfare Agent (CWA) Simulant Project that had the following goals: 1.) Identify chemicals (simulants) that simulate the permeation of Sarin (GB) and sulfur mustard (HD) through elastomeric barrier materials that are commonly used in respirators. 2.) Develop a convenient and reliable laboratory procedure (test method) that can be used by Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) manufacturers for estimating GB and HD permeation rates through barrier materials using the simulants. PPE manufacturers can use this method to screen and deselect candidate barrier materials during product development testing. Advancements in this research can benefit the first responder community by providing PPE manufacturers with information and testing techniques that will reduce the time and resources needed to engineer products that weigh less, have better permeation resistance, are less cumbersome, and could potentially be less expensive." - NIOSHTIC-21. Introduction -- 2. Procedures and Results -- 3. Discussion. -- 4. Summary -- References -- Bibliography: Application of solvent-solute parameters and solubility phase diagrams to chemical defense, unlimited distribution publications -- Appendix A: Standard test method for estimating permeation resistance of nonporous barrier polymers to liquid chemical warfare agents (GB and HD) using liquid simulants -- Appendix B: Liquid permeation cell mechanical drawings -- Appendix C: CWA permeation tablesDonald Rivin, Wendel J. Shuely, Frank Palya, Jr., Robert S. Lindsay, Axel Rodriguez, Philip W. Bartram."July 2008.""This document was prepared by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) in collaboration with the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) including their staff from the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) and the Natick Soldier Center (NSC). " - p. viiiAlso available via the World Wide Web as an Acrobat .pdf file (2.04 MB, 97 p.)Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-63)

Loss of start-up oxygen in CSE SR-100 self-contained self-rescuers

"This report describes a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) investigation assessing the prevalence of a lack of sufficient start-up oxygen in CSE SR-100 self-contained self-rescuer (SCSR) devices. The availability of sufficient start-up oxygen is critical to the performance of the SR-100. As part of a routine field testing program of SCSRs used in coal mines, NIOSH and MSHA detected two SR-100s that lacked sufficient start-up oxygen. CSE Corporation subsequently discovered one SCSR that lacked sufficient start-up oxygen in that company's internal quality control program and voluntarily stopped further production and sales of SR-100s. NIOSH developed a protocol to test for the presence of start-up oxygen in field-deployed SR100s. The purpose of the test was to determine if the failure rate of the start-up oxygen in the population of 70,000 field-deployed units exceeded 1%. NIOSH and MSHA used American Society for Quality (ASQ), Sampling Procedures and Tables for Inspection of Isolated Lots by Attributes (ASQC Q3-1988). In assessing the SR-100s, if no more than 3 failures of start-up oxygen occurred in the 500-unit random sample, the SR-100 could be accepted as meeting the Limiting Quality (LQ) rate of 1.25% for start-up oxygen performance. NIOSH tested five hundred field-deployed devices collected from coal mines throughout the United States. NIOSH observed 5 start-up oxygen failures in the 500 units it tested. The maximum number of failures allowed under the LQ rate of 1.25% was exceeded; therefore, the 1% maximum allowable failure rate under the protocol was not met." - NIOSHTIC-2Robert Stein, Heinz Ahlers, Roland Berry Ann."April 2012."Also available via the World Wide Web as an Acrobat .pdf file (509 KB, 24 p.)