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Need Input,



I work in an industry that PPE is a must (not just burn protection but life or death). I have had some discussions with some of my co-workers discussing the proper fitting of the PPE. I have seen that some people that (I feel) should be wearing a 1 x maybe a 2 x size PPE and yet they are wearing a 5 x or 6 x.

The question I have is when purchasing PPE (fully covered head to toe) I know that you want working room but, don’t you also want to stay away from it being way too loose? In my eyes if you have on a suit that is too loose you 1. leave room for gasses to get in the suit and 2. room for the gasses to stay.

Can you please give me your opinion on this or let me know if there would be something like a NFPA standard to look into?

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ARE WE TALKING ABOUT HAZMAT SUITS???
Hi Larry!  I am assuming that your  talking about a level "A"  HazMat Suit.  There are a few ways  vapors can enter through a level "A" vapor barrier suit.  1) Permeation = Travels through the protective coating  2) Penetration =  Travels through the zippers, seams, and pin holes of the suit. 3)  Degradation = The suit being brittle. In my opinion if the suit is a vapor barrier suit it should not matter what size it they are wearing it is vapor tight. Now I have stopped calling the Level "A" suit fully encapsulated suit  due to the Super "B"  suit, that is another discussion for another  day. I call a Level "A" suit a vapor barrier suit. I leave my suit especially large because I  do   as little body movement as possible and I have interior working room with special none sharp items in my suit (towel,informational resources, and so on..) . I like to move the suits BIG Buick window around to see my surroundings.  Now if your talking about level  "B" and "C"  suits you will still have to be concerned of the three mentioned above and you will need proper taping that is suitable for the job or task your performing. Now, level "C" suits  you have to be concerned about O2 readings and cartridge types. Being in a suit has a lot of draw backs, my suggestion is let them be comfortable in the suit size they prefer as long as there are zero and I do mean ZERO safety issues.  I hope this  helps!  Here is my personal  cell phone number if you have any further questions  740-507-8802.

Actually I am talking about a "flashsuit", Its one that we use where I work. Kind of like these on this website http://www.asiprotectiveclothing.com/entry-suits.


The inside lining is almost like a firefighter suit but it also has an aluminized outer coating. I work at a Pyrotechnics Factory and we have to were these thing in some situation.  Our material burns very very hot some where in the rand of 5000 degree.

Gotcha!!!!!! I would suggest a suit that fits properly.  We  do not  wear fire gear that is five times the size, we probably should not being wearing a flash shoot five times our size.  However, this is  out of my area of expertise! good luck and let me knwo what you fins out, I AM CURIOUS! Todd McKee

 

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