Respro - Urban Survival Equipment

Fire Services

The Health and Safety at Work (1974) Act and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations specify that companies have a legal responsibility to provide appropriate protection, for their employees, against identified hazards.

Within the Fire and Rescue Services, Breathing Apparatus "BA" will continue to be the primary level of respiratory protection to be used by fire-fighters, but a need for a secondary level of respiratory protection has been identified, as this would offer an increase in safety to personnel when dealing with certain particulates.

The Respro® FB-1 mask was developed with Cornwall County Fire and Rescue services headed at the time by ADO Ted Simpson who guided the development to its conclusion. The FB-1 mask has been thoroughly tested by the Cornwall County FRS, who have now, along with Devon FRS, specified it as personal issue to all of it’s operational staff and is currently used for the following duties:

1. Cutting away and turning over of scene following fire-fighting operations.
2. Moving around in loft spaces, or cutting away (from both above and below ceiling level).
3. Prior to the discovery of Asbestos, the FB-1 gives a level of protection to personnel.
4. Glass management at Road Traffic Accidents.
5. Wind blown spray while lifting from open water, or when pumping out premises; Working adjacent to water 6. risks (rivers, canal, lakes, sewers, etc.).
7. Exhaust spray from ventilation ducts in air conditioning units when on Fire Safety visits.
8. Carrying out casualty care at incidents.
9. Fires/ Special services involving aircraft and some road vehicles.

10. Operating equipment with internal combustion engines, e.g. Appliances; Holmatro; light weight portable pump.
11.Fire-fighting on open ground (cereal crops, grass etc.) Special service in silos.
12. Discomfort due to malodorous atmosphere, e.g. assisting ambulance with deceased persons.
13. Air-borne infectious agents - sewerage works, stagnant open water, refuse tips & transfer stations etc.
14. Exposure to dust created by disk cutting, or breaking by mechanical hammer.
15. Cutting away soft or hard wood structures; present in woodmill dust extract & cyclones.
16. Visiting factory premises, etc.
17. When using dry powder as an extinguishing medium, or, carrying out re-charging of dry powder extinguishers.
18. Attendance of outdoor/un-enclosed fires.
19. Sweeping yards, cleaning out store rooms etc.

What must be thoroughly understood at the outset is that the FB-1 mask is in no way a replacement for primary breathing apparatus and the following statement must be strictly adhered to at all times:

'The FB-1 mask must never be used as an alternative to primary breathing apparatus. If there is a requirement to use primary breathing apparatus, then that is the standard to be adopted in every case without exception.'

The FB-1 mask and its filter have been designed and manufactured to EN149 FFP1 (European Standard for filtering face pieces) and is capable of filtering invisible sub-micron size particulates. Following on from the success of the FB-1, the FB-2 mask is currently in development.

The FB-1 mask is not exclusively used by the Fire and Rescue Service, it is used by the following other users:

Police Personnel
Scenes of Crime Personnel
Uniformed Officers
Detective Officers
Scientists
Forensic Science Personnel

• 
  • Alpha Mask
  • Respro's Alpha™ range of masks are designed for Occupational Health environments.
    Find out more »
  • Order now
• 
  • FB-1 Mask
  • Respro® developed the FB-1 mask in conjunction with the St Austell Watch of the UK Fire Brigade Serv
    Find out more »
  • Order now
• 
  • I-SHOTS
  • I-Shots can be sited in key 'eyeshot' areas on the bicycle, jackets, gloves, trousers,bags,.etc.
    Find out more »
  • Order now