The Safety Equipment Institute (SEI) has launched a program to certify respirators that police officers and other non-firefighting emergency services personnel can use.  

The program certifies the equipment to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1986-2017 Standard on Respiratory Protection Equipment for Tactical and Technical Operations. 

Specifically, the program will certify a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), which consists of a facepiece, a cylinder with compressed air, pressure regulator(s), and a harness assembly (which carries everything on the wearer’s back).

SEI and the U.S. National Personal Protective Technical Laboratory (NPPTL) – part of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) – have an existing memorandum of understanding that will support this new program.  The organizations will coordinate evaluations for compliance to the standard and then jointly issue NIOSH-SEI certification letters to manufacturers.

The NFPA standard references ASTM International standards on salt spray (fog) testing (B117) as well as haze and luminous transmittance of transparent plastics (D1003). SEI is an affiliate of ASTM International.

More information on this and other SEI certification programs can be found at the SEI website and in this Standardization News cover story.

Media Inquiries: Dan Bergels, tel +1.610.832.9602; dbergels@astm.org 

SEI Contact: Patricia Gleason, tel +1.703.442.5732; pgleason@seinet.org 

Release #10420