6 years ago

New Edition of NFPA 1994

This standard involves protective clothing for emergency response to chem-bio terrorism incidents and hazmat.

Today I would like to discuss the new edition of NFPA 1994. This standard involves protective clothing for emergency response to chem-bio terrorism incidents and hazmat. One of the most significant changes to this new edition is that it now includes Hazmat response. The new edition was approved on August 21, 2017. Manufacturers are given one year to recertify existing products or to spend efforts to certify new products to this new edition of the standard. Kappler is currently testing a couple of different products to this new edition. 

In this new edition, we have Class 1, 2, 3 and 4. They provide distinctively different performance requirements for protective clothing.

Class 1 is the highest and involves protection against high levels of vapor and liquid challenges.

It has a significant difference from NFPA 1991 because it allows the use of a non-encapsulated protective garment. This class requires 10 chemicals to be tested as well as the MIST test to meet requirements of Class 1. Class 2 provides a reduced challenge and a shorter chemical list. 

Class 3 has the same chemical list as Class 2 but also requires a comfort test which has two parts. One part is THL (total heat loss) and the other is evaporative resistance. 

Class 4 is for biological and radiological particle hazards and involves testing a whole garment against a particle or dust field atmosphere. 

With the new standard being issued with four different classes, it can be somewhat confusing to the user. As we move forward we will continue to provide information on these different classes and how they can be applied to different scenarios or applications. That is the general overview of NFPA 1994 which is now the 2018 Edition.