A new whole-body vapor exposure chamber for protection performance research on chemical protective ensembles.

ABSTRACT

A chemical vapor exposure chamber was designed to permit the study of whole-body vapor exposure of individuals wearing full protective clothing and equipment systems. A methodology also was developed to quantify the vapor protection performance of chemical protective ensembles (CPE) under safe and validated laboratory procedures. The principal research objectives were to (1) provide a methodology to accurately assess the performance of CPE and equipment under different environmental and chemical vapor challenge conditions; (2) quantify the vapor protection on a per body region basis; (3) have a systems level tool to aid in the research and development of more effective CPE for use in chemical biological environments; and (4) have a safe and reliable means of qualifying new CPE on the basis of vapor protection. Although designed for the evaluation of military-style protective equipment, the procedures apply equally to other styles of CPE used by civilian agencies such as firefighters, police, and hazmat units. The chamber and methodology were specifically designed to examine the vapor protection performance of clothing ensembles, including the details of protection variation over the body. A variety of exposure conditions appropriate to indoor and outdoor scenarios are possible, including the effects of wind, temperature, and relative humidity. Protection performance results from a number of individuals wearing typical military-style CPE are presented. These results demonstrate that there is no such thing as a unique protection performance level obtained for a given CPE. Rather, the individual and the ensemble interact differently in each situation, resulting in a protection performance distribution for individuals, and for groups of wearers, even under a standardized set of exposure conditions.