Comparative Analysis of the Liquid CO2 Washing with Conventional Wash on Firefighters’ Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Abstract

Firefighters are exposed to several potentially carcinogenic fireground contaminants. The current NFPA 1851 washing procedures are less effective in cleaning due to the limited intensity of the washing conditions that are used. The 2020 edition of NFPA 1851 has added limited specialized cleaning for higher efficacy. The liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) laundering technique has gained popularity in recent years due to its availability to remove contaminants and its eco-friendliness. The primary aim of this study is to address the firefighter questions regarding the efficacy of cleaning with liquid CO2 and to compare it with the conventional washing technique. The unused turnout jackets were contaminated with a mixture of fireground contaminants. These turnout jackets were cleaned with conventional NFPA 1851-appoved aqueous washing and a commercially available liquid CO2 method. Post-cleaning samples were analyzed for contamination using pressurized solvent extraction and GC-MS. The liquid CO2 technique demonstrated considerable improvement in washing efficiency compared to the conventional washing.

Reducing Transdermal Uptake of Semivolatile Plasticizers from Indoor Environments: A Clothing Intervention

“…Normal washing with a mechanical dryer is only somewhat effective at removing higher volatility SVOCs and poor at lower volatility SVOC species. , Comprehensively reducing the concentrations of a wide range of SVOCs could be achieved with advanced cleaning or extraction methods. Still, such practices may be impractical for reducing non-occupational exposures in the general public . Instead, clothing interventions could be more appropriate for more vulnerable individuals such as those with skin conditions.…”

Bench-Scale and Full-Scale Level Evaluation of the Effect of Parameters on Cleaning Efficacy of the Firefighters’ PPE

“…The swatches were then placed into 250-mL Erlenmeyer flasks with 4.3 g of glass beads added to provide mechanical agitation. The targeted contaminants list provided in Table 1 is similar to the one described in Girase et al (2022) [ 15 ]. The octanol-water partition coefficient values (KOW) represent the compound’s solubility in octanol and water.…”

“…UWT045D4) washer-extractor that was fully programmable for temperature and washing duration, with parameters similar to those described in Table 3 . The contamination and washing procedures were identical to those described as the “Conventional washing protocol” by (Girase et al, 2022) [ 15 ].…”

Qualitative Assessment of Off-Gassing of Compounds from Field-Contaminated Firefighter Jackets with Varied Air Exposure Time Intervals Using Headspace GC-MS

“…In addition to the turnout gear, the developed headspace method can assess off-gassing from other ensemble elements, such as trousers, gloves, and hoods. The method could also be used to study the off-gassing of volatile compounds after various decontamination studies, such as liquid CO 2 , which has been proven more effective than conventional washing [ 26 ].…”

“…The findings of this study are critical for better understanding the potential health risks associated with the off-gassing of contaminants from firefighter gear. This study will help in addressing the significant research gap in the field since existing studies have primarily focused on identifying contaminants on gear surfaces or evaluating decontamination procedures [ 22 , 23 ]. There is a lack of comprehensive understanding regarding the extent to which contaminated gear off-gas and pose a hazard to firefighters.…”