Announcement of a Public Meeting on June 18-19, 2002

Letter to All Interested Parties

Issue Date: May 24, 2002

From: Richard W. Metzler, Acting Director, National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory

Subject: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Announcement of a Public Meeting on June 18-19, 2002, to Discuss Standards Development Efforts for Full Facepiece Air-Purifying Respirators (APR) Used to Protect Emergency Response Workers Against Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Agents

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), along with the U.S. Army Soldier Biological and Chemical Command (SBCCOM), and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) is planning to conduct a public stakeholder meeting on June 18-19, 2002, to present concepts for discussing appropriate standards and testing processes for full-facepiece air-purifying respirators suitable for use by first responders against CBRN Agents; concepts and priorities for the development and implementation of standards for other classes of respirators; and research work to identify simulant materials for use as CBRN test surrogates for respirator research and development efforts. A formal notice of this meeting will be posted in the Federal Register in the near future (published May 31) . The meeting will be held at the Sheraton Station Square, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1:00pm - 5:00pm on June 18, 2002, and 9:00am - 5:00pm on June 19, 2002. The meeting will be open to the public, limited only by the space available. The meeting room accommodates approximately 200 people. A block of rooms will be available for interested parties to reserve at the Sheraton Station Square through June 7, 2002.

NIOSH, SBCCOM, and NIST will present information to attendees concerning the development of the concepts and priorities being considered for the development of standards for the various classes of respirators. Participants will be given an opportunity to ask questions and to present individual comments that they may wish to have considered. A copy of the APR CBRN standard concept paper is attached to this letter; interested parties are advised to check the NIOSH National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory web site, http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/ , for updates to the concept paper prior to the public meeting. [Go to http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/standardsdev/cbrn/ to see concept papers. (This page no longer available. View http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/NPPTL/respmanuf.html#respstds )].

Requests to make presentations at the public meeting should be mailed to the NIOSH Docket Officer, Robert A. Taft Laboratories, M/S C34, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, Ohio 45226, telephone 513-533-8303, fax 513-533-8285, or emailed to NIOCINDOCKET@CDC.GOV. All requests to present should contain the name, address, and telephone number, relevant business affiliations of the presenter, a brief summary of the presentation, and the approximate time requested for the presentation. Oral presentations should be limited to 15 minutes.

After reviewing the requests for presentations, NIOSH will notify each presenter of the approximate time that their presentation is scheduled to begin. If a participant is not present when their presentation is scheduled to begin, the remaining participants will be heard in order. At the conclusion of the meeting, an attempt will be made to allow presentations by any scheduled participants who missed their assigned times. Attendees who wish to speak but did not submit a request for the opportunity to make a presentation may be given this opportunity at the conclusion of the meeting, at the discretion of the presiding officer.

For further information, contact Mr. Jonathan Szalajda, NIOSH, PO Box 18070,
626 Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15236, telephone 412-386-6627,
fax 412-386-6747 and/or E-mail: npptl@cdc.gov.

SBCCOM and NIST plan to hold a related meeting on June 20, 2002, at the same location to discuss the development of chemical and biological personal protection equipment standards and guidelines (other than respirators). They are the lead agencies associated with the development of standards for personal protective equipment, other than respirators, against CBRN agents. For information concerning this June 20, 2002 meeting, please contact: Ms. Elaine Stewart-Craig, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, SBCCOM, 5183 Blackhawk Road, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21010-5424, ATTN: AMSSB-REN-HD-T, telephone 410-436-2998, fax 410-436-2998, and/or E-mail: Elaine.stewartcraig@sbccom.apgea.army.mil.