Fire, land management and emergency workers can be exposed to a range of hazards and risks when completing work tasks. These may vary depending on the incident type, the urgency of response and environmental conditions. Given the nature of emergency…
Bushfire smoke is dangerous. It’s full of tiny suspended fine particulate matter, measuring only 2.5 micrometres (written as PM2.5). To get an idea of how small that is, a micrometre is 1000 times smaller than a millimetre. Particles that size easily…
Most firefighters know and except that it is impossible to eliminate exposure to Carbon Monoxide unless you choose to self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). If comfort and reduction of irritation is the primary concern, there is a variety of disposable…
If our volunteer firefighters are concerned about smoke exposure, we owe it to them to better understand the problem and provide some reasonably practicable solutions.
The respiratory protection options that are being provided to volunteer firefighters by the NSW Rural Fire Service are very limited and could impact upon firefighter health. The simple fact that firefighters are raising concerns on social media and other platforms…
Volunteer firefighters spending extended periods battling NSW bushfires say they are having to cough up significant sums of money for upgraded respirators, amid fears the disposable masks issued by the Rural Fire Service aren't providing enough protection for the severity…
This post compares the performance of the Fair Air fire mask (Fair Air) against the requirements of AS/NZS 1716:2013 (the standard) for masks rated as P2. It also provides some detail regarding ISO 9151:1995(E) and ISO 15025:2000 which are international…
