Masks & Respirators

The use of respiratory protection is necessary when emergency services personnel: must enter confined spaces in which known toxic gases, vapours, or harmful particles are present, are subjected to hazardous gases and vapours during tactical maneouvres and/or encounter an unknown environment. Many devices have been designed to protect personnel based upon the nature of the hazard as well as regulatory and industry requirements.

Choice and the selection of appropriate products for a given application are critical. Personnel also could find their safety to be greatly compromised if the selected equipment is used beyond the scope of its design.

Air-purifying respirators (APR), filtering devices for use in contaminated air; range from the simple, filtering type to the powered full-facepiece versions. Filtering facepieces are contoured half-masks with head and chin straps, where the facepiece itself functions as a filter. Tight-fitting facepieces are either half-mask (covering the nose and mouth), or full-face, covering the nose, mouth and eyes) and employ particulate filters and/or chemical cartridges. Particulate filters, chemical cartridges, and combinations used with APRs should be chosen in full accordance with the requirements of the given application and regulatory standards, such as OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) or NIOSH (National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health).

Air-purifying respirators do not supply breathable air and must not be used in oxygen-deficient atmospheres.

Typical applications include:

• Riot Control
• Clan Labs
• Tear Gas
• CBRN Incidents
• Chemical
• Electric Utility
• Fire Fighting
• Nuclear
• Rescue
• Homeland Security/Counter-Terrorism
• Oil and Gas

• Confined Space
• Fire
• Toxic Atmosphere IDLH