Positive pressure personnel suit: Difference between revisions

In 1987, USAMRIID scientist Joel Dalrymple described the subjective experience of working in a PPPS and "his solemn respect for working in the hot suits" to a journalist:{{blockquote|"I don't want anyone to prep my suit," he says. "It is like packing your own parachute." Indeed, it is no picnic to do experiments weighted down with all that gear and paraphernalia. The air hisses so loudly you have to crimp the air supply to talk to your lab partner. The plastic eyeshield reflects the lightbulbs[[light bulb]]s in the ceiling. Heat builds up. Fatigue sets in. You can't scratch or go to the bathroom. And all the time, there is the danger that you will slip and puncture your suit and infect yourself. After working in the hot suit, everyone showers and checks the suit, just to make sure that no tiny punctures turn up. "It's just instinct," says Dalrymple. "You come out, pull off your glove, blow it up and hold it. You've been working with needles all day. It is refreshing to see a glove that remains inflated."<ref>McDermott, Jeanne (1987), ''The Killing Winds: The Menace of Biological Warfare''; [[New York City|New York]]; [[Arbor House]], pp 220-221.</ref>}}

In the late 1970s, [[ILC Dover]], LP, developed a special garment, the [[Demilitarization Protective Ensemble]] (DPE), to fulfill the [[U.S. Army]]'s need for an off-the-shelf, positive pressure, totally encapsulating suit for use by maintenance personnel at a [[chemical weapon]]s site. The DPE was delivered to the Army in 1979 and is still currently in daily use, with over 700 recorded entries into a "hot" environment and a perfect safety record. From the technology used in production of the DPE, ILC developed the [[ILC Dover#Protective suits|Chemturion]] suit for use in commercial applications. Delta Protection, a subsidiary of French company Bacou-Dalloz, designed a [[Michelin Man]]-inspired suit in 2003, known in the United States at that time as French BSL 4 Suit.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Masibay|first1=Kimberly|title=A Chic French Import Attracts U.S. Attention|url=http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2003-05/hot-zone-couture|access-date=5 December 2014|work=Popular Science|date=27 May 2003}}</ref> In July 2007, the CDC purchased 30 Delta Protection suits to be used in BSL-4,<ref>{{cite web|title=84 -- BSL-4 Protective Suit: Solicitation Number: Reference-Number-00HCVHDB-2007-45398|url=https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=3f464234e94bae197063f2477caa0c8e&tab=core&_cview=0|website=CDC|access-date=5 December 2014}}</ref> and called them "orange suits".<ref>{{cite web|title=PHIL # 10727|url=http://phil.cdc.gov/phil/details.asp?pid=10727|website=CDC|access-date=5 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=PHIL # 10724|url=http://phil.cdc.gov/phil/details.asp?pid=10724|website=CDC|access-date=5 December 2014}}</ref> On August 20, 2007, Bacou-Dalloz became [[Sperian Protection]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Stanley Personal Protection History|url=https://stanleypersonalprotection.com/History|website=Stanley|access-date=5 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209164200/https://stanleypersonalprotection.com/History|archive-date=2014-12-09|url-status=dead}}</ref> The same suit design became part of Sperian Protection ventilated suits ("White Suits").<ref>{{cite web|title=Solutions to Protect People Against Particles|url=http://www.nanosafe.org/home/liblocal/docs/2008_Oral%20presentations/O5-5_Sperian%20Protection.pdf|website=NanoSafe|access-date=5 December 2014|date=2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523053552/http://www.nanosafe.org/home/liblocal/docs/2008_Oral%20presentations/O5-5_Sperian%20Protection.pdf|archive-date=23 May 2013|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> On September 15, 2010, Sperian Protection became part of [[Honeywell]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Sperian Protection, Historical Player|url=http://www.sperian.com/The_Group/History.aspx|website=Sperian Protection|access-date=5 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211231854/http://www.sperian.com/The_Group/History.aspx|archive-date=11 February 2011}}</ref> The product is now called Honeywell BSL 4 suits.<ref>{{cite web|title=Product Family BSL 4|url=http://www.honeywellsafety.com/Products/Protective_Clothing/BSL_4.aspx?site=/americas|website=Honeywell|url-status=deviated|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924031146/http://www.honeywellsafety.com/Products/Protective_Clothing/BSL_4.aspx?site=/americas|archive-date=24 September 2015|access-date=520 DecemberJune 20142024}}</ref> The Chemturion series is a series of multi-use, totally encapsulating PPPSs, currently used by [[Health Canada|Public Health Canada]], [[Boston University]], [[AI Signal Research]], USAMRIID, the CDC, and many industrial companies such as [[DuPont]], [[Dow Chemical Company|Dow]], and [[Georgia Pacific]].<ref>U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, [http://www.cma.army.mil/fndocumentviewer.aspx?docid=003676566 Suiting up for Safety, Fact Sheet] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923204937/http://www.cma.army.mil/fndocumentviewer.aspx?docid=003676566 |date=2015-09-23 }}. Retrieved on 2011-02-11.</ref>