The Safety Equipment Institute (SEI) has announced that the first certifications have been issued to NFPA 1994, Standard on Protective Ensembles for First Responders to CBRN Terrorism Incidents, 2012 Edition.

The independent testing of these protective ensembles used in the fire and emergency services continues to be conducted at SEI’s contract testing laboratory, Intertek, Cortland, NY. The staff at SEI and Intertek closely monitored the progress of the new standard through participation on the Technical Correlating Committee on Fire and Emergency Services Protective Clothing and Equipment, and are well-equipped for testing to the new standard.

The revised NFPA 1994 standard has an effective date of January 2, 2012 and supersedes all other editions. The 2012 edition was revised extensively to include an updated permeation resistance test method; the Man-In-SimulantTest (MIST) method was revised to include a number of improvements to the test method, a revised slip resistance test, and removal of the Puncture Resistance Test 2, as well as the Impact and Compression Resistance Test. In addition to editorial and formatting changes, new definitions were included, there was a revision to the section on Manufacturers Quality Assurance Programs, and updates were made to ANSI, ISO/IEC and ASTM standards.

Along with initial compliance testing of all protective ensembles, manufacturers who participate in the SEI certification program must also pass a rigorous quality assurance audit of their manufacturing facility and operate in accordance with ISO 9001. Also, all products carrying the SEI label are required to be re-certified annually. This means that all products must be re-tested annually, and the manufacturing facility must continue to successfully meet all SEI quality assurance requirements during follow-up audits.

Information about SEI’s certification program and the most current version of the SEI Certified Product List can be accessed on SEI’s web site, www.SEInet.org. The bulk of the SEI home page includes the SEI Certified Product List which provides certified product model names and numbers, manufacturer’s names, addresses, and contact numbers.