December 23, 2002—The Federal agencies charged with protecting workers, and building and supporting the nation’s emergency management system, jointly sponsored a daylong summit on December 17, 2002, to address issues affecting federal workers responsible for responding to incidents involving weapons of mass destruction.
The meeting, co-sponsored by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and attended by several other agencies, focused primarily on personal protective equipment (PPE)-related issues for federal workers involved in emergency responses resulting from terrorist acts and/or weapons of mass destruction.
“Each of the organizations that responded to the tragedy of September 11, 2001, brought with them their best efforts,” said OSHA Administrator John Henshaw. “But we all found critical areas that needed improvement, including improved personal protective equipment technology training and ready access to PPE equipment to name a few. This summit helped clarify some policy and technical issues related to PPE and helped us move toward a greater level of preparedness for the future.”
Henshaw also said the objectives and outcome of the Summit were tied to OSHA’s Homeland Security role in providing safety and health preparedness assistance and guidance in concert with other federal agencies.
Three panels of representatives from federal and state agencies and associations discussed various PPE-related issues including certification of respiratory protection, interoperability of respiratory protection equipment, training and fit-testing requirements, and guidance for PPE selection. Briefings and follow-on discussions also focused on certification procedures and standards to address the range of PPE necessary for different levels of government responders.
One particular issue centered on whether individual agencies should continue to be responsible for the selection and use of PPE by their own employees, or move to a coordinated effort through a single federal agency. Other topics included recent advances in PPE development, and availability of PPE training models that could be standardized and provided to government personnel.
