2008年7月1日 星期二

A Brief Guide to Personal Protective Gears

The personal protective gears are comprehensively designed to protect people from chemicals, airborne particles, bio-hazardous and any other hazardous threats while working or being exposed to a crowded place. In past years when SARS still overshadowed the world with fatal infection, myriads of masks and respirators in the shelves had been snapped up by skittish people as an ultimate self-defense measure. Now as bird's flu quickly spreads worldwide, people begin to consider wearing masks to secure them from the list of victims. Personal protective gears such as goggles, face shields, safety glasses, or full-face respirators, half-masks must be used when a potential hazard exists. In a workplace, the protective gears chosen for specific work situations depend upon the nature and extent of the hazard, the circumstances of exposure and personal needs.



Respirators

Respirators, or industrial mask look a little like gas masks, yet there isn't any eye protection and filters are not so complicated. Fundamentally, respirators guard the users in two ways: by the removal of contaminants from the air or by supplying clean respirable air from another source. However, respirators should only be used as a "last line of defense" as engineering control systems are not feasible. Commonly, respirators have two kinds: full face and half-mask. Full-face respirators offer the best guard against general dust, chemical and smoke. And in use of half-face ones, respirators have not to focus on the advantage of comfort and user-friendliness at the expense of eye protection. For clear sight, polycarbonate or Trivex lens provide the optimized impact protection in prescription safety glasses.



Masks

A special kind of hospital mask, called the "N95 " could be also function to keep us from the most biological agents. The mask, matching with gloves and protective clothing, is recommended for those who handle people infected with bio-warfare agents or deadly viruses. Nevertheless, these wouldn't absolutely fend off chemical agents or viruses.



Gloves

According to National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH, chemicals with low volatility may readily penetrate the skin barrier, may be highly toxic, and may tend to bio-accumulate within exposed persons over time. Gloves provide resistance to chemical permeation and adequate protection for skin as wearing. A wide spectrum of materials is used for making gloves such as natural rubber, polyvinyl chloride, butyl rubber, nitrile, or neoprene. Optimal materials should be comfortable to wear, good tactility, unfragile and easily accessible and affordable.



Goggles

Goggles provide better impact protection and greater defense against dust, chemical splash and welding light than conventional safety glasses. Goggles for splash or fine dust isolation should have indirect venting. To reduce fogging in use, direct vented goggles grab a big chunk of market share. Safety goggles launched in the wake of ski type goggles with higher air-flow are efficient to lessen fogging.



Face Shields

Face Shields render full-face protection for spraying, chipping, grinding, and critical chemical or blood-borne jeopardy. The can be tinted or metal coated for heat and splatter protection. The curve of the face shield will direct particles or chemicals from the side into the eyes.



Article from ttnet.net

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