"The National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) was created by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in 2001. Its mission is to prevent disease, injury and death for millions of workers who rely on personal protective equipment including miners, emergency responders, and healthcare, agricultural, construction, and industrial workers. NPPTL brings together experts from many disciplines dedicated to reducing the risk to workers of job-related injury, illness, and death. NPPTL, through targeted partnerships, research, service, and communication, focuses on new and enhanced personal protective equipment for workers including first responders during terrorist attacks or other disasters." - NIOSHTIC-2
The National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) is a Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). NPPTL prevents work-related injury, illness, and death by advancing the state of knowledge and application of personal protective technologies (PPT). NPPTL supports more than 20 million U.S. workers who rely on this equipment (e.g., respirators, clothing, gowns, gloves, eye protection and other types of protective gear) to keep them safe from on-the-job hazards.
Maintaining the health and safety of workers in the United States and globally is accomplished in part by reducing hazardous exposures through the use of personal protective equipment. Personal protective technologies (PPT) include respirators worn by construction workers and miners; protective clothing, respirators, and gloves worn by firefighters and mine rescue workers; and respirators and protective clothing worn by healthcare workers. An estimated 5 million workers are required to wear respirators in 1.3 million U.S. workplaces. For some occupations, such as firefighting, the worker's protective equipment is the only form of protection against life-threatening hazards; for other workers, the PPT is a supplement to ventilation and other environmental, engineering, or administrative hazard controls. In the United States, federal responsibility for civilian worker PPT is integral to the mission of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). This book examines the NIOSH Personal Protective Technology Program (PPT Program) and specifically focuses on the relevance and impact of this program in reducing hazardous exposures and improving worker health and safety.
"NPPTL's resources include staff with world-recognized PPT expertise and facilities specifically equipped to carry out our mission. Staff possess unique expertise and experience in PPT research and development, respiratory protection technology, including metabolic and breathing simulation, open and closed circuit SCBA testing, and respirator testing using particulates, gases, and vapors. To achieve our mission, NPPTL: 1. Conducts work site surveillance of hazards for which PPT and PPE are used to protect workers, along with studies of patterns of PPT use. 2. Conducts laboratory and field research on the development and evaluation of innovative PPT and PPE. 3. Researches and develops criteria, standards, and guidelines relating to PPT performance, quality, reliability and efficacy. 4. Directs and carries out the NIOSH respirator certification program and related laboratory, field, quality, and records activities. 5. Produces and disseminates research findings, technical information, training materials, performance criteria, and recommendations for using PPE to improve worker protection. 6. Develops, studies, and assesses the effectiveness of communications and training approaches and technologies relating to PPT. NPPTL's four scientific focus areas are: 1. Respiratory Protection: Fill gaps in knowledge, methods, and measures for new NIOSH respirator performance, quality, and reliability standards; and provide recommendations for improving respiratory protection for a diverse user population. 2. Ensembles: Use a systems engineering approach for the design, development, evaluation, and integration of new technologies and performance, quality, and reliability standards for PPE ensembles. User communities, such as emergency responders, firefighters, mine workers, and health care workers, will have unique PPE ensembles developed specifically to protect against known occupational hazards. Ensembles will be reviewed frequently for appropriateness to emerging hazards. 3. Human Performance: Conduct studies designed to measure human physiological, biomechanical, cognitive, and exercise performance responses to wearing PPE and PPE ensembles, and then modify the ensembles to improve human performance. 4. Sensors: Develop, evaluate, and integrate effective residual life indicators and predictive models for protective clothing and respirators into PPE ensembles. NPPTL's products and services include: 1. Peer-reviewed scientific research studies, analyses, and reports to fill PPT knowledge gaps. 2. Standards for advanced PPT to assure appropriate system and guidance to workers. 3. Evaluations of technologies and recommendations for use. 4. Approval of respirators meeting NIOSH certification standards. 5. Quality assurance (QA) and compliance investigations triggered by suspected malfunctions of NIOSH-approved respirators. 6. Technical assistance and advice to regulating agencies, leading to improved science-based enforcement standards. 7. Policies for product certifications and standards. 8. Training and education. 9. User guidance documents (safety alerts, guidelines). We strive to make a difference for American workers and emergency responders who rely on the personal protective equipment we are developing to keep them safe and healthy on the job. " - NIOSHTIC-2
When you purchase a product, you expect it to work. Construction workers on high-rise buildings need to be confident that their safety harnesses will arrest a fall. Firefighters need to know that their gloves and other protective equipment can withstand high temperatures. Healthcare workers administering highly toxic chemotherapy agents need to know that their gloves will withstand penetration. For personal protective technologies (PPT)-where the major purpose of the product is to protect the wearer against a hazard-a deficit in product effectiveness can mean injury, illness, or death. Examining the extent to which products meet specific performance or design criteria is the focus of conformity assessment efforts. For PPT conformity assessment, the ultimate goal is preventing worker illness, injury, or death from hazardous working conditions. Certifying Personal Protective Technologies focuses on conformity assessment for occupational PPT-ensuring that PPT are effective in preventing or reducing hazardous exposures or situations that workers face in their jobs. Because respirators already have an extensive testing and conformity assessment process in place, this book specifically addresses conformity assessment processes for other types of PPT, including eye and face protection, gloves, hearing protectors, and protective clothing.
Occupational health nurses (OHNs) are front-line advocates for preventing illness and injury and protecting health in a variety of workplace settings, including the areas of agriculture, construction, health care, manufacturing, and public safety. OHNs need education and training in respiratory protection in order to ensure both their safety and the safety of America's workers. At the request of the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) examined existing respiratory protection curricula and made recommendations to improve education and training in respiratory protection for OHNs. The IOM finds that current respiratory protection education receives varying amounts of dedicated time and resources and is taught using a variety of approaches. Several recommendations are made to improve the respiratory protection education and training of OHNs.
To address approaches to the respirator approval process in the current landscape for both occupational and non-occupational use of respirators, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Standing Committee on Personal Protective Equipment for Workplace Safety and Health convened a virtual workshop, Current Issues in the Assessment of Respiratory Protective Devices: Nontraditional Workers and Public Use on August 4â€"5, 2020. Additionally, the workshop considered gaps in respiratory protection for outdoor workers and the general public. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the workshop.
During an influenza pandemic, healthcare workers will be on the front lines delivering care to patients and preventing further spread of the disease. As the nation prepares for pandemic influenza, multiple avenues for protecting the health of the public are being carefully considered, ranging from rapid development of appropriate vaccines to quarantine plans should the need arise for their implementation. One vital aspect of pandemic influenza planning is the use of personal protective equipment (PPE)-the respirators, gowns, gloves, face shields, eye protection, and other equipment that will be used by healthcare workers and others in their day-to-day patient care responsibilities. However, efforts to appropriately protect healthcare workers from illness or from infecting their families and their patients are greatly hindered by the paucity of data on the transmission of influenza and the challenges associated with training and equipping healthcare workers with effective personal protective equipment. Due to this lack of knowledge on influenza transmission, it is not possible at the present time to definitively inform healthcare workers about what PPE is critical and what level of protection this equipment will provide in a pandemic. The outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 have underscored the importance of protecting healthcare workers from infectious agents. The surge capacity that will be required to reduce mortality from a pandemic cannot be met if healthcare workers are themselves ill or are absent due to concerns about PPE efficacy. The IOM committee determined that there is an urgent need to address the lack of preparedness regarding effective PPE for use in an influenza pandemic. Preparing for an Influenza Pandemic : Personal Protective Equipment for Healthcare Workers identifies that require expeditious research and policy action: (1) Influenza transmission research should become an immediate and short-term research priority so that effective prevention and control strategies can be developed and refined. The current paucity of knowledge significantly hinders prevention efforts. (2) Employer and employee commitment to worker safety and appropriate use of PPE should be strengthened. Healthcare facilities should establish and promote a culture of safety. (3) An integrated effort is needed to understand the PPE requirements of the worker and to develop and utilize innovative materials and technologies to create the next generation of PPE capable of meeting these needs.
