There is still a lot of concern over Ebola, especially from our customers who are largely the hazmat teams tasked with responding to and transporting of purported Ebola victims for diagnosis and treatment.
Laramie, Wyoming (PRWEB) December 03, 2014
The company is releasing this complimentary brief to hazmat teams, fire departments/fire marshals, EMS personnel, EMA officials or any other public safety/health professionals that visit the Company’s web site at http://www.aristatek.com.
The technical brief titled ‘Ebola Virus – Use of Personal Protection Equipment’ includes a consolidation of commentary from world leading organizations such as the World Health Organization and the U.S. Center for Disease Control. The NFPA 1994 standard incorporated the American Society for Testing and Materials International (ASTM) F1671 test method as a principal requirement for demonstrating protection against blood-borne pathogens. The brief summarizes the methodology for the ASTM F1671 test method as part of the overall commentary on PPE.
“We wrote this brief with a slightly different approach than other Ebola related PPE information that is out there,” stated Bruce King, CEO of AristaTek. “Instead of not only answering the ‘what’ question when it comes to picking a PPE for Ebola, we also wanted to answer ‘why’ that PPE is appropriate, which was the reason for including the background on the ASTM F1671 test procedures.”
Two of the main takeaways from the brief both deal with PPE permeability to the Ebola virus. The ASTM F1671 testing standard for PPE uses a surrogate microbe whose size is much smaller than the Ebola virus. This fact should address those concerns where a suit is not tested directly against Ebola itself, as the standard exceeds those needed for a virus the size of Ebola. The more concerning finding in the brief reveals that there may be instances where PPE users could exceed the pressure thresholds used during the testing procedure, at which point it is unknown if the virus transmission through the fabric becomes an issue. Thus caution and awareness needs to remain high even when wearing PPE around Ebola.
“There is still a lot of concern over Ebola, especially from our customers who are largely the hazmat teams tasked with responding to and transporting of purported Ebola victims for diagnosis and treatment,” continued King. “Hopefully this brief gives folks looking over their PPE inventories and practices an additional resource to be sure they are protected.”
About AristaTek
Formed in 1999 by four chemists and engineers who conducted field scale research studies at the Nevada Test Site’s Hazmat Spill Center (HSC) mandated by the 1986 Superfund and Reauthorization Act (SARA) and the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) during the 1990’s, AristaTek has become a leading provider of CBRNE and HAZMAT response and planning solutions to the civilian and military market. PEAC-WMD™, AristaTek’s leading software product, assists in planning and response efforts by consolidating CBRNE & HAZMAT technical reference sources and automating stand-off distance modeling and communication of incident data. PEAC is the industry-standard in the CBRNE & HAZMAT response community, supporting critical CBRNE units such as the National Guard Civil Support Teams (CST), the United States Air Force (USAF) and countless civilian responders worldwide. AristaTek is a certified HUBZone business. For additional information, visit http://www.aristatek.com.
