When Ernie Batista began his 29-year  law enforcement career, the only personal protective equipment that his sheriff's department issued to him and other deputies was several uniforms and a gun belt.

According to Ernie, "We purchased our own handguns, shotguns, and ballistic vests. During civil disturbances, we were issued gas masks, riot helmets, and riot batons. That was the extent of personal protec tion equipment in 1974, because the threats that officers faced then were very different than today.

"In years past, the only use for gas masks was for temporary protection from inadvertant tear gas exposure while responding to civil disturbances or dislodging suspects from a building.

"Usually, gas masks were military surplus, and fit-testing occurred only during firearms qualifications. We were told to put on our gas masks, walk into a tear gas-filled room, take the mask off, leave it off for a minute or two, put it back on, and then walk out of the room.

"We would emerge from the room, heaving and tearing the masks off as we raced each other for the water hose or any other source of relief that we could find.That unpopular and unscientific fit-testing exercise and experience would usually suffice for the rest of our law enforcement career, unless we were lucky enough to be assigned to the SWAT team."

Law Enforcement takes on PPE

Today, officers on the job automatically serve as designated first responders.You regularly face increasing threats from terrorism and hazards from sources such as clandestine drug laboratories. To prevent officers from becoming "blue canaries," law enforcement agencies must take responsibility for equipping their officers with the proper PPE and training them how to use it. In fact, today's officers must become experts in an area where historically, they knew little.

This challenge requires a new awareness and education in a wide range of complex issues related to PPE. Law enforcement officers (LEOs) and agencies must:

• Learn how to evaluate, select, use, and purchase new tools and equipment.

• Become familiar with government standards that govern the use of PPE and how government agencies test and evaluate that equipment against various hazards, including chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear hazards (CBRN).

• Know where and how to obtain federal funding for PPE, in coordination with other regional law enforce-ment agencies and state government.

• Understand that the use of PPE requires fit-testing, medical evaluations, inventory control, training, a replacement cycle process, and record keeping.

Obviously these requirements place additional responsibilities on the already heavy work load of law enforcement officers and administrators.

Even "natural" disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes put LEOs into the center of hazardous environments. When infrastructures are destroyed, electric power lines are down, and gas lines rupture, the public relies on law enforcement for everything from providing for basic human needs to maintaining law and order.

You need to know whether you should wear an air-purifying respirator (half mask with chemical/filter cartridges), a CBRN gas mask, or an air-supplied respirator (full-face mask with air tank). You need eye-wear and clothing and gloves, even during recovery and remediation phases of a disaster of any sort. These tools both protect you personally and make you more effective as a law enforcement officer.

Representative comments by law enforcement

Collective action:

The National Institute of Justice, Office of Science and Technology, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), and the Public Safety and Security Institute for Technology (PSITEC) retained the services of the Center for Technology Commercialization's Public Safety Technology Center (CTC/PSTC), to conduct a research project to:

1. Identify the various missions and functions that law enforcement officers must undertake when responding to Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive incidents; and

2. Identify appropriate Personal Protective Equipment needed by law enforcement officers to fulfill each of the identified missions and functions.

To meet these objectives, the PSTC and IACP arranged two days of presentations featuring best practices and research, as well as several facilitated focus group sessions on January 14 -15, 2004 at the New York State Police Academy in Albany, New York.

The Focus Group participants spoke for a wide range of law enforcement agencies representing state, local and county organizations. All participants had experience in critical incident management and Personal Protective Equipment.

Note: Material from this document will be referred to in this Primer as "IACP Report."

Mine Safety Appliances was incorporated in 1914. MSA's initial impact was improving mine rescue and enlisting the help of Thomas A. Edison to invent a flameless miner's lamp. Making breathing apparatus for World War I soldiers soon followed, and before long, MSA was also protecting industrial workers in their gritty, chemical-laden, hot and dangerous factories and mills.

Our respiratory protection, particularly gas masks, has been worn by millions of soldiers in war after war, until the present day, when technologically advanced, comfortable, and extremely effective gas masks designed by MSA are still the No. i choice of U.S. armed forces.

We also provide safety solutions for our local heroes: police, sheriff's deputies, and prison guards. Whether the situation involves civil unrest, the control of violent inmates, or a terrorist act, MSA offers the level of safety needed to protect the protectors.

With annual sales of over $700 million, MSA encompasses a network of 28 affiliate companies worldwide and over 4400 employees who design, manufacture, market, and sell hundreds of safety products. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., we are the largest company in the world devoted solely to worker safety. A detailed sales organization, market specialists, a vast network of distributors, and an award-winning customer service department provide information, expertise, and training across the U.S. and Canada.Throughout the company, we have a passion to protect.

Products:

• Respiratory protection (CBRN gas masks, SCBA, half-mask respirators with chemical & filter cartridges)

• Head protection (ballistic helmets, industrial-style hard hats, fire fighting helmets)

• Gas detecting & monitoring instruments (for oxygen, combustible gases, hazardous gases, WMD)

• Area monitors with multiple capabilities

• Thermal imaging cameras

• Fall protection & rescue equipment (tactical harnesses, rescue belts, confined spaces rescue)

• Communications equipment (internal mask-mounted, helmet-mounted, MICH comm systems)

• Eye, face, & hearing protection (safety glasses & goggles, faceshields, ear muffs, ear plugs)

Solutions:

• Training

• Respiratory fit-testing

• Medical testing

• Technical data

• Explanations of government standards

• Information like this PPE primer

• Expert assistance of MSA's representatives and distributors

Experience in the line of fire:

• MSA's solid history of providing state-of-the-art PPE, instruments, service, and support to first responders during emergencies proved itself after September n, 2001, when MSA's experts helped supply products, fit-test respirators, and train hundreds of first responders, rescuers, and recovery workers.

• Your MSA experts know that proper equipment selection, training, and coordination are a crucial part of organizing a successful Homeland Security Program.

Affiliations:

• AFFNA     • ICTOA

• FBINAA     • National Sheriff's Assoc.

• IACP      • NTOA

MSA has a history of protecting the protectors, before, during, and after emergencies. Today, with increasing focus on creating the specialized kinds of protection that law enforcement officers need, we have dedicated even more of our excellent, state-of-the-art research and engineering capabilities to creating and improving products designed to protect you. Protecting you is the business of MSA.

What this means for Law Enforcement

Just as other protective equipment for law enforcement officers has evolved over the years, MSA's safety equipment offers cutting-edge advantages that enhance ease of use and reliability. MSA brings new confidence that you are supplying the safest available systems to your officers. Our ergonomically designed products allow for maximum protection while providing a comfortable fit. Ease of use helps encourage worker compliance with department and government safety guidelines.

We look at providing protective equipment as a complete process: helping you to choose the right components to solve your safety problems, supplying the best products on the market, training your personnel, and providing service to your department or agency after the sale. This results in a higher level of safety, more successful tactical results, and economical solutions for your safety needs.

MSA is a partner to help you achieve your safety goals. We can:

• Help reduce your total cost of ownership of safety equipment

• Work with you to solve challenges in your safety program

• Present valuable solutions for your safety program, including training assistance, explaining government standards, addressing stocking and supply issues, and problem solving

• We can help you make sure that proper levels of repair parts are maintained and that your personnel are trained in cleaning and repair. There is no charge for these services.

• Work with you to analyze possible hazardous situations your officers may face and determine which protection best suits their needs. We can conduct walk-through inspections of your sites to help you form an inventory of action areas.

• Help you arrange for fit testing your personnel to meet OSHA guidelines.

• Assist with on-line medical certification to help you meet this respiratory protection requirement.

The traditional assumption is that most specialized equipment needed at the scene of an accident or incident arrives with the fire service. Their traditional duties of battling fires and responding to other extremely hazardous situations have always demanded extensive training and the best available protection, including tough helmets, turnout coats, and an air tank with breathing mask.

Today's reality is that law enforcement officers require equipment that fits your mission. What is appropriate for firefighters may be a burden or even a danger for police officers. You require customized versions of respiratory protection, helmets, and other PPE, besides specialized tools and equipment. You further benefit from appropriate training and under-standing how personal protection and equipment can maximize your on-the-job efforts. Police need their own customized information about PPE.

At the very least, officers must be trained at a minimum level of awareness about chemical/ biological agents and equipped with PPE appropriate for hazards they expect to face, as well as trained in use, limitations, and maintenance of that PPE.

It makes sense to simply com-mit the time and effort toward establishing a new program which encompasses all aspects of selection, care, use, and maintenance of respiratory protection and other safety products. Otherwise, learning is happenstance and incomplete. Lack of information about PPE is much more burdensome than simply embracing the inevitable. The fact is, if you want the right protection so you can do your job, you welcome the opportunity to familiarize yourself with its benefits and use.

PPE selections must be based on hazards and risk.