NFPA 1994

Abstract

This standard shall establish the minimum requirements for the design, performance, testing, documentation, and certification of protective ensembles and ensemble elements used during hazardous materials and chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) terrorism incidents. This standard shall establish requirements for protective ensembles and ensemble elements that are worn for a single exposure at incidents involving hazardous materials and CBRN terrorism agents. This standard shall also establish requirements for ruggedized ensembles that can be used multiple times where there is no exposure to hazardous materials and CBRN terrorism agents and that provide a greater level of physical hazard resistance and increased durability. This standard shall also establish additional optional requirements for hazardous materials and CBRN protective ensembles for escape protection only from chemical flash fires encountered during hazardous materials and CBRN incidents. This standard shall also establish additional optional requirements for hazardous materials and CBRN protective ensembles addressing stealth characteristics of ensembles. This standard shall establish requirements for new hazardous materials and CBRN protective ensembles and ensemble elements. This standard shall not establish requirements for respiratory protection for incidents involving hazardous materials or CBRN terrorism agents. Appropriate respiratory protection for the incidents involving specific hazardous materials or CBRN terrorism agent exposure is a critical part of overall protection and shall be specified and provided by the authority having jurisdiction. This standard shall not establish requirements for any fire-fighting applications. This standard shall not establish requirements for protection at incidents involving ionizing radiation, liquefied gas, cryogenic liquid hazards, explosives, or explosive atmospheres. This standard shall not apply to any accessories that could be attached to the certified product, before or after purchase, but are not necessary for the certified product to meet the requirements of this standard. This standard shall not be construed as addressing all of the safety concerns associated with the use of compliant hazardous materials and CBRN protective ensembles and ensemble elements. It shall be the responsibility of the persons and organizations that use compliant hazardous materials and CBRN protective ensembles and ensemble elements to establish safety and health practices and to determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use. This standard shall not be construed as addressing all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with the use of this standard by testing facilities. It shall be the responsibility of the persons and organizations that use this standard to conduct testing of hazardous materials and CBRN protective ensembles and ensemble elements to establish safety and health practices and to determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to using this standard for any designing, manufacturing, and testing. Nothing herein shall restrict any jurisdiction or manufacturer from exceeding these minimum requirements. Purpose. The purpose of this standard shall be to establish minimum levels of protection for emergency first responder personnel assigned to incidents involving hazardous materials and CBRN terrorism agents. To achieve this purpose, this standard shall establish minimum requirements for hazardous materials and CBRN protective ensembles and ensemble elements for emergency first responder personnel responding to incidents involving hazardous materials and CBRN terrorism agents, and for emergency first responder personnel exposed to victims or materials during assessment, extrication, rescue, triage, decontamination, treatment, site security, crowd management, and force protection operations at incidents involving hazardous materials and CBRN terrorism agents. This standard shall provide emergency first responder personnel with four levels of hazardous materials and CBRN protective ensembles and ensemble elements that could be selected for minimum protection of emergency first responder personnel based on what the incident risk analysis indicates is necessary protection for the intended operations. This standard shall establish a level of physical hazard resistance for three of the four levels of CBRN ensembles and ensemble elements that could be selected for those operations where ensembles are used multiple times without exposure to hazardous materials and CBRN terrorism agents and for operations requiring increased durability. This standard shall establish a minimum level of limited chemical flash fire protection for escape only in the event of a chemical flash fire, as an option for compliant CBRN protective ensembles and ensemble elements. This standard shall establish a minimum level of stealth characteristics, as an option for compliant CBRN ensembles. Controlled laboratory tests used to determine compliance with the performance requirements of this standard shall not be deemed as establishing performance levels for all situations to which personnel can be exposed. This standard is not intended to be utilized as a detailed manufacturing or purchase specification, but shall be permitted to be referenced in purchase specifications as minimum requirements.