The National Fire Protection Association's Fire Service Occupational Safety and Health Committee is in the process of updating NFPA 1581, Fire Department Infection Control Program, as part of the revision cycle these documents go through every three to five years. The committee has met and considered changes for the 2010 edition, which will be released in December 2009 or January 2010.
The Report on Proposals for these revisions is open for public comment. The deadline for submitting additional revisions is March 6.
According to Carl Peterson, director of NFPA's public fire protection division, the significance of these revisions will affect departments differently. He says that most of the changes and revisions proposed for the 2010 edition are not major — having more standardized definitions or clarifying portions of the document.
Of particular concern, he says, is section 5.5 (see “Revisions to Section 5.5,” page 29), which covers laundry facilities in fire stations and handling contaminated personal protective ensembles. “This is a revision to clarify the committee's intent, as there have been questions on the existing wording,” he says. “If you read it one way, it might sound like you need three sets of washing machines in a fire station. The committee wants contaminated PPE and station uniforms that are washed in the fire station to be done in a washing machine and dyer in a cleaning area specifically for that stuff. It doesn't want contaminated and non-contaminated clothing mixed. And stations need a separate set of machines if they are going to wash bed linens and towels there.”
Section 5.7.4 will be deleted entirely, as it adds confusion in talking about laundry facilities being remote from the cleaning area where section 5.5 requires the washer and dryer for protective ensembles and contaminated clothing to be in the cleaning area.
There has been confusion over washing machines for PPE and station work uniforms. The designation “PPE” is being changed to protective ensemble with an added definition: “multiple elements of compliant protective clothing and equipment that, when worn together, provide protection from some risks, but not all risks, of emergency incident operations.” Section 5.5 is being rewritten to focus on cleaning protective ensembles. New annex material suggests that if the fire department is going to clean non-contaminated laundry, such as bed linen, in the fire station, a separate washer and dryer needs to be provided in an area remote from the cleaning area.
An additional revision to section 5.6.4.2 stipulates that potentially contaminated protective ensembles not be allowed in personal clothing lockers or in areas used for food preparation, living, sleeping, recreation or personal hygiene. If there is the potential that PPE is contaminated, it is not enough to stipulate storage and washing regulations; there are places in the fire station where communicability is a threat, and therefore, where the contaminated garments should not even be allowed.
Similarly, to prevent spreading contagions or infections, protective ensembles should not be taken home. “In some volunteer departments, in particular,” says Peterson, “people don't think about it and clothing goes home and gets washed in the home washing machine. That is potential contamination there.”
The emphasis is on keeping the contaminated clothing in a specific area, and only in that area at all times. That way, says Peterson, “If it's going to be washed in the fire station, there are specific machines for that; if it's going to be sent off-site, that they collectively get bagged up and be labeled properly.”
A revision to 5.8.3 specifies that facilities with disinfection capabilities be equipped with racks or shelving to drip-dry cleaned equipment, and that all drainage run into a sink or drainage pan that empties directly into a sanitary sewer or septic system.
Another revision details that structural firefighter protective ensembles be cleaned, maintained and decontaminated in accordance with the instructions and requirements of NFPA 1851, Selection, Care and Maintenance of Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting.
Peterson recommends that if fire stations haven't already established a good infection control program, they should do so as soon as possible.
He also encourages fire chiefs to look at the Report on Proposals for NFPA 1581, which is available for public comment and can be downloaded at www.nfpa.org/aboutthecodes/AboutTheCodes.asp?DocNum=1581. “Look at the proposed changes, and if there is anything that needs further change or we need to be aware of, submit a comment,” says Peterson.
Revisions to Section 5.5
Section 5.5, Cleaning Protective Ensembles and Contaminated Clothing, will be revised to read as follows:
5.5.1 The fire department shall provide for the cleaning of protective ensembles and contaminated station/work uniforms.
5.5.2 Cleaning of protective ensembles and contaminated station/work uniforms shall be performed by a cleaning service or at a fire department facility equipped to handle contaminated clothing.
5.5.3 Where the cleaning is conducted in fire stations, the fire department shall provide at least one washing machine and clothes dryer for the dedicated purpose of cleaning protective ensembles and contaminated station/work uniforms. An annex (5.5.3.2) will read: If the fire department allows the washing of non-contaminated laundry including bedding in the fire station, a separate washer and dryer should be available for that purpose and located in an area that is remote from the cleaning area specified in section 5.7.
5.5.3.1 The washer and dryer shall be located in the designated cleaning area specified in section 5.7.
5.5.3.2 Non-contaminated clothing and other laundry shall not be washed in the same machine(s).
5.5.4 If protective ensembles are to be cleaned at a separate fire department facility, a dedicated machine for the sole purpose of cleaning the protective ensembles shall be provided.
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