Abstract

In the event of a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) hazard release, emergency responders rely on respiratory protection to prevent inhalation of these hazards. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) CBRN Statement of Standard calls for CBRN respirator canisters to be challenged with 11 different chemical test representative agents (TRAs) during certification testing, which represent hazards from 7 distinct Chemical Families; these 11 TRAs were identified during the original 2001 CBRN hazard assessment. CBRN hazards are constantly evolving in type, intent of use, and ways of dissemination. Thus, new and emerging hazards must be identified to ensure CBRN canisters continue to provide protection to emergency responders against all hazards that would most likely be used in an intentional or unintentional event.

The objectives are to: (1) update the CBRN list of hazards to ensure NIOSH-approved CBRN canisters continue to provide adequate protection capabilities from newly emerging chemical and radiological hazards and (2) identify the need to update NIOSH TRAs to ensure testing conditions represent relevant hazards. These objectives were accomplished by reviewing recent hazard assessments to identify a list of chemical and radiological respiratory hazards, evaluate chemical/physical properties and filtration behavior for these hazards, group the hazards based on NIOSH’s current Chemical Families, and finally compare the hazards to the current TRAs based on anticipated filtration behavior, among other criteria.

Upon completion of the evaluation process, 237 hazards were identified and compared to NIOSH’s current CBRN TRAs. Of these 237 hazards, 203 were able to be categorized into one of NIOSH’s current seven Chemical Families. Five were identified for further evaluation. Based on reviewing key chemical/physical properties of each hazard, NIOSH’s current 11 TRAs remain representative of the identified respiratory CBRN hazards to emergency responders and should continue to be used during NIOSH certification testing. Thus, NIOSH’s CBRN Statement of Standard remains unchanged. The process developed standardizes a methodology for future hazard evaluations.

摘要

万一发生化学，生物，放射或核（CBRN）危害释放，应急响应人员将依靠呼吸防护来防止吸入这些危害。美国国家职业安全与健康研究院（NIOSH）的CBRN标准声明要求在认证测试过程中使用11种不同的化学测试代表剂（TRAs）挑战CBRN呼吸器滤罐，这些代表了7个不同化学家族的危害；在最初的2001年CBRN危害评估中确定了这11个TRA。CBRN危害的类型，使用意图和传播方式不断发展。从而，

目标是：（1）更新CBRN危害清单，以确保经NIOSH批准的CBRN罐继续提供针对新出现的化学和放射危害的足够保护能力，以及（2）确定需要更新NIOSH TRA以确保测试条件能够代表相关危害。通过审查最近的危害评估结果以识别化学和放射学呼吸道危害清单，评估这些危害的化学/物理特性和过滤行为，根据NIOSH的当前化学家族对危害进行分组并最终将危害与当前危害状况进行比较，可以实现这些目标。 TRA基于预期的过滤行为以及其他标准。

评估过程完成后，确定了237种危害并将其与NIOSH的当前CBRN TRA进行了比较。在这237种危害中，有203种被归类为NIOSH当前的七个化学家族之一。确定了五个有待进一步评估。根据对每种危害的关键化学/物理特性的审查，NIOSH的当前11 TRA仍代表已识别出的对应急人员的呼吸CBRN危害，应在NIOSH认证测试中继续使用。因此，NIOSH的CBRN标准声明保持不变。开发的过程标准化了未来危害评估的方法。