subject: Protective Chemical Suit Designed To Give Maximum Safety [print this page] Many times we watch movies where scientists wear chemical protective suits to keep themselves safe from chemicals spillage. But do you how they provide safety to our body? These suits are not superficial but they exist in actual. Not only scientists but safety personnel dealing into explosive devices detection squad wear these suits. Hazmat suits, also known as biohazard suits (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) suits are developed to protect the wearers from harmful substances that they are like to come across in their work.
A protective chemical suit is used primarily for two functions "" gas or vapor protection and splash protection. Gas protection suits are specifically developed to protect the wear from just about anything except radiation. They are completely encapsulated and are typically over-inflated to protect the wearer from contamination even in the unlikely event that the suit is breached. They are generally worn with a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) so that the wearer can breathe easily within the suit.
Protective chemical suit is categorized on the basis of permeation rate, breakthrough time, and degradation. It helps you in determining the level of protection that you require. Permeation rate is actually the speed at which chemicals and contagions move through the protective material. If the permeation rate is high, it means that contagions move quickly through the material. Breakthrough time refers to the total time consumed for contagions to completely permeate the protective chemical suit. It cues the lifespan of the particular protective items. Degradation measures how quickly material physically deteriorates once it has come into contact with a contagion. Based on the kind of contagion, protective material can become brittle, harden, soften, and in some worst cases, even dissolve.
Before buying a protective chemical suit proximity suits and protective garment, it is very much important to carefully inspect the material as not all chemical protection suits are designed on the basis of permeation rate, breakthrough time, and degradation. For example, you need to list down the hazardous materials that your suit might come in contact with. You also need to consider whether there is a risk that your protective material will be punctured or torn. You need to analyze the level of contact that you will have the contagion.
Last but the least you have to check all resting decontamination procedures. The protective measures you take at the end of a dangerous task are just as valuable as the ones you take to see that assignment through.
