The National Fire Protection Association has issued a safety alert on self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) facepiece lenses, recommending that fire departments, fire academies, and emergency service organizations inspect all lenses before and after each use. Any SCBA facepiece lens found to have cracks, crazing, bubbling, deformation, discoloring, gaps, or holes should be immediately removed from service and a replacement issued.
The alert came after several NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality investigations and additional research found SCBA facepiece lenses may undergo thermal degradation when exposed to intense heat – something firefighters can encounter during fires. The degradation reduces the protection meant for the user’s respiratory system and exposes the user to products of combustion and super heated air.