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OK, the subject of today's article is protecting the person (and equipment YOU) so that you are healthy enough to keep using it. Personal protection is a very personal subject.
You need to know how to protect your self when you are dealing with Hazardous Materials. There are 4 levels of personal protection equipment that you need to be aware of. Level A, B, C, and D. These levels are recognized by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the United States Coast Guard (USCG).


Lets start with Level A, this level provides the highest level of protection against vapors, gases, mists, and particles. It is a fully encapsulating suit not only enveloping the wearer but also the self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). Wearing this suit is only for trained people, as it is extremely heavy and bulks. It ranks right up there with a space suit. There are even different suits that handle different chemicals.


Level B, requires a garment, that includes SCBA, that provides protection against splashes from hazardous chemicals. This is worn when vapor protection clothing is not needed. Wrists, ankles, face pieces, hoods, and waist are secured to prevent entry of any splashed liquids. Specific types of gloves and boots are used, along with specific suits, depending on the chemicals.


Level C, is almost like level B in requirement, with the exception of the respiratory protection. This level of protection involves any of the various types of air purifying respirators. This level should not be used if you have no idea of what you are trying to protect yourself from.


Level D, well lets just say that that is what we always use when working. This is your normal clothing. Boots, work uniforms, and the like. Level D is not adequate for first responders. Now I am not saying that you need to rush out and buy thousands of dollars of special equipment, but to use what you might happen to have with you. A rain suit might provide some protection for your body, but the what about your lungs? Maybe a respirator like the painters at the body shops use. They have all kinds of filters that remove some, if not all kinds of airborne particles. Notice the word particles, they will not work on many of the gases that you might encounter.


Another kind of protective clothing is Chemical-Protective Clothing, which is designed to protect against specific chemical hazards. An acid suit works good for acids, but not so good for radioactive protection.


Now all protective clothing is available in both reusable and limited use versions. I happen to think that the word limited use, will work for us. This means disposable. Yup throw away stuff. Would you like to reuse it, after carrying it around with you in the truck. If the initial usage was to protect you, is it healthy to keep the contaminated clothing with you so that you have a chronic long term exposure to the hazard. Nope, I think that one time and then trash it (properly) is what is good for us.

Now a good kind of protective clothing that you might want to carry is a Liquid-Splash Protective Suit. They are designed to protect users from liquid slashes, but not gases or vapors. How many of us have worked wrecks where we encounter gasoline or diesel fuel, that gets splashed on us because we walk in it, or kneel in it, or even lay in it. Sound like it is not possible, well think about a truck wreck, and how you place chains and straps. They do lay on the ground, and that is where the hazardous materials are. Straps soak up liquids, and when they are worked or thrown over or under the vehicle, well you get the idea, spray or splash.
Oh yeah, while I have the thought, the minimum chemical certification for Liquid-Splash Protective Suits is for the following chemicals:
Acetone
Diethylamine
Ethyl Acetate
Hexane
Sodium Hydroxide
Sulfuric Acid
Tetrahydofuran
Toluene


And the most common hazardous material that is shipped is Sulfuric Acid UN (placard #) 1830. Just take a look and see how much of that stuff you see going down the road. The trucking industry judges how busy they are, by the amount of Sulfuric Acid that is being transported. The next most shipped item is gasoline, UN 1203.


So you see that you might encounter a spill or leak of either problem.
As a side note for all you that have air cushions, Toluene works wonders on the glue that holds the bags together. Get it on the bags, and they might just come apart under the load. Even days or weeks down the road, so you need to keep track of where and what your system has been in contact with. I think that a log book for the air cushion recovery vehicle would be a great idea. That way you have a record of everything that you did, who was there, who had the problem, what was the problem, what equipment was used to solve the problem, and was the equipment checked and cleaned after the use. After all air cushions are not cheap, you need to protect your investment.


OK now that we have covered the suits, in a basic form at least, we need to discuss Protective Breathing Equipment. Respiratory protection is of primary concern to everyone that responds to a Hazardous Materials Incident, because one of the major routes of exposure is inhalation. Irritants, asphyxiates, toxins, poisons, and other hazards are most likely encountered when working on an incident.


SCBA's, otherwise know as Self-contained Breathing Apparatus, are the most common kind of protection that is used when dealing with a hazardous materials incident. This is the firefighters breathing system, the Air Pac's that they use. These provide anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes of air. How ever they are heavy and bulky. Cost is real high also. But for respiratory protection they cannot be beat. They are positive pressure, which means that there is always air in the face mask so toxic gases and vapors cannot get inside. These are used in Level A, B, and C protective clothing.


Another kind of protection is Open-Circuit Airline Breathing Equipment. This system has a face mask similar to a SCBA, however that is where the similarities stop. You have a long air hose that is connected to several oxygen tanks, that are a long distance, such as several hundred feet away. This is for longer term work at an incident.


And then there are Closed-circuit Self-contained Breathing Apparatus, which are lighter and smaller than regular because they utilize a smaller cylinder of pure oxygen. You have a time limit from 1/2 hour to 4 hours with this kind of system. Both of the above systems are mainly used by hazardous materials clean up teams.


Finally there are Air-Purifying Respirators, these are face masks that have filter cartridges that filter out the particles, vapors and gases. A painters respirator is the same thing. The only things that you need to be aware is that you cannot possibly filter out all the materials, but you are reducing them to an amount that is manageable and safe. Also of concern is Do not wear air-purifying respirators in emergency operation, only wear them in controlled atmospheres where the hazard is known and sufficient oxygen is present to support life (19.5% minimum ).


So you can see that several different options are available to protect you, special suits, special gloves, breathing apparatus, special boots. But the most common and reasonable form of protection is knowledge. If you are informed then you are protected. Know that you are working with, and then you know if you want to do the job. You can always say no, and let the experts clean it up and remove the hazard. Then it will be much safer to handle the job. Just don't let the macho part of being a tow truck driver overwhelm you, after all you do want to keep doing the job, not try hospital food for a while.


A simple selection of protective clothes will help you do your job, and protect you. After all most of this stuff can harm you, if not kill you. This is why it is called HAZARDOUS MATERIALS!