Two SCBA Makers Finally Gain Full NFPA Approval

By Lyn Bixby

At last in September the two leading manufacturers of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) managed to pass a series of demanding new tests established by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

Mine Safety Appliances (MSA) received its letters of certification on Sept. 11, allowing it to sell its FireHawk M7 SCBA as compliant with the 2007 editions of NFPA 1981, the SCBA standard, and NFPA 1982, the standard for personal alert safety system (PASS) alarms.

Then on Sept. 21 Scott Health & Safety had its Air-Pak 75 certified for sale under both standards. David Trivette, the company’s SCBA product manager said he was confident that a second Scott SCBA – the NxG7 – would also receive full approval soon.

MSA was informed of its achievement more than a week after the new standards took effect on Sept. 1. As of that date, SCBA manufacturers were barred from selling their products as NFPA compliant until they gained approval under the 2007 requirements.

“We’ve had a long history of firsts with the NFPA standards,” said Mike Rupert, MSA’s first responder products group manager. “We’re pretty happy.”

He said MSA planned to begin shipping new units by the end of September.

As of late September, MSA and Scott were the only two of seven SCBA manufacturers to be approved to sell their units as NFPA compliant. Managers at some other companies said they were sure their products would eventually be certified. Their estimates of when they would receive full approval ranged from weeks to months.

 

 

Scott Air-Pak 75 Scott says its new Air-Pak 75, named in honor of the company’s 75th anniversary, has its easy breathing E-Z Flo regulator, heads-up display integrated electronics, an array of cylinder options and CBRN approval. Features include: • A redesigned 30-degree angled gauge console with a built-in edge light that allows a firefighter to better view remaining air pressure using a mechanical gauge that does not rely on electronics. • A drag rescue loop and integrated handles on the back frame for easier donning and carrying of the unit. • A modified heads-up display that includes a photo sensing diode to adjust brightness depending on the ambient light source. • Improved battery management with one source for battery power. For information call 800-247-7257 or go to www.scotthealthsafety.com.

Trivette compared how he felt on Sept. 21 – when he got word the Air-Pak 75 had been certified – to someone who suffers from claustrophobia riding in an elevator, getting a little bit agitated. “And when the doors open,” he said, “there’s that look of relief, like, ‘Thank God, it’s over.’”

‘A Ton Of Orders’

He said Scott was one of the first manufacturers, if not the first, to submit its products for testing in February and he was mystified why it had taken so long. The company, he said, has “a ton of orders” and planned to begin shipping 2007-compliant units by the beginning of October.

The first company to meet one of the two new standards was Interspiro, Inc., which had its Spiromatic S6 unit certified under NFPA 1981 the day before the new standard took effect.

“It was posted [on the Safety Equipment Institute Web site] on Sept. 3, but we got a call on Friday afternoon [Aug. 31] congratulating us on being the first,” said Interspiro President Mike Brookman. “For at least a couple of days we were the only ones listed.”

 

MSA FireHawk M7 MSA says its new FireHawk M7 Air Mask, the first SCBA to receive full NFPA approval, has high-temperature (500 degrees Fahrenheit) PASS alarm performance, water immersion protection and tumble-tested and virtually bulletproof electronics. Features include: • A high-performance mechanical speech diaphragm with an electronic amplifier to back it up. • A personal wireless network designed to accept future technology upgrades. • A wireless heads-up display with auto-dim and buddy light that blinks to alert others the user is low on air. • A lightweight polymer back plate with quick-release harness straps, an optional large swiveling lumbar pad and a cam-lock cylinder attachment. • An optional rescue belt integrated rappelling system. For information call 877-MSA-FIRE or go to www.msafire.com

Hoping To Be The Only One

Scott was the next company to reach NFPA 1981 certification with its Air-Pak NxG7.

The Scott, Interspiro and MSA approvals were the only ones posted on the SEI Web site as of Sept. 26, nearly four weeks after the new standards took effect.

Scott and MSA have the largest shares of SCBA sales in the United States. Brookman said his company is a subsidiary of Interspiro International, which is based in Stockholm, Sweden. It has U.S. sales in the 5- to 10- percent market range, he said, and expects to increase its share in 2008, based on structural changes in the company, the addition of employees and his anticipation of full NFPA certification soon.

“We were hoping frankly to be the only one [to be NFPA certified] for a while, and that didn’t happen, but I think it may be a while longer before the 4th or 5th or 6th [company] comes on board,” he said. “We fully expect to be delivering [fully-compliant] product in late October and early November.”

Interspiro established a U.S. presence in 1985 and was acquired in 2003 by Ocenco, Inc., of Pleasant Prairie, Wis.

Another company with a significant share of the SCBA market in the U.S. is Sperian Fire, formerly known as Survivair, and Steve Weinstein, its senior SCBA product manager, said he anticipates full NFPA approval in November or December.

“Our target in the beginning was to have certification around the end of the year, sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas,” he said. “I can tell you this, we haven’t failed any tests yet.”

Weinstein said he does not believe early certification gives much of an advantage to one manufacturer over another, except in cases where fire departments have federal Fire Act grants to buy new SCBA and the grants are about to expire.

“What we’re hearing from the industry in general is most people are going to sit back and wait until everybody is certified and then they will start making decisions,” he said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of people waiting until after the first of the year. That’s what we’re hearing, and we’re happy we’re hearing that.”

Rupert, MSA’s manager, said having the FireHawk M7 fully certified might give his company a competitive advantage, depending on how soon other manufacturers gain approval.

“Obviously if they obtain it quickly, it probably won’t matter too much,” he said. “But if there’s a significant lag, I think fire departments are probably going to be less able to wait.”

He and other SCBA managers agree the most difficult new tests are the ones for the 2007 edition of NFPA 1982, which governs PASS alarms. The changes were a response to investigations of firefighter deaths that raised questions about the reliability of PASS devices.

Two PASS Alarms

Scott, according to Trivette, is the only SCBA manufacturer with two PASS devices approved – the Pak-Alert and the Pak-Tracker, which features a locater system using a high-frequency radio signal that can be tracked with a hand-held device to find a trapped firefighter.

Scott is also the only manufacturer with two SCBA models approved under the NFPA 1981 standard. He anticipated the NxG7 would receive its NFPA 1982 approval before the end of September. The NxG7 uses the same PASS device as the Air-Pak 75, but needs separate NFPA 1982 approval because the PASS is mounted differently and uses a different connector cable.

Testing Strategy

The Air-Pak 75 and the NxG7 have two main differences, according to Trivette. On the Air-Pak 75, he said, the first-stage regulator is attached to the cylinder with a threaded connection, while the NxG7 uses a snap-on connector. The other difference, he said, is the Air-Pak 75 has Scott’s E-Z Flo regulator, and the NxG7 is equipped with the E-Z Flo II, which has 25 percent less exhalation resistance.

Rupert said MSA’s ability to reach the certification finish line first may have been due to the way it approached the testing. “Our strategy was to go after both [NFPA 1981 and NFPA 1982] simultaneously,” he said. “Some of these other manufacturers must have taken a strategy of ‘we’re going to go after what we can get,’ which is the SCBA portion, and separate it from the PASS portion.”

He said MSA’s SCBA team celebrated its achievement when the certification letters arrived, but not for too long. “Our work is not done yet, that’s for sure,” he said. “We have to phase into production and get completely up to speed.”

He declined to specify how many orders the company has for its new unit, except to say, “There is substantial demand.”