Public Meeting on October 16 & 17, 2002

Letter to All Interested Parties

Issue Date: September 23, 2002

From: Roland J. Berry Ann, Acting Branch Chief, Respirator Branch, National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory

Subject: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Announcement of a Public Meeting on October 16 & 17, 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 and Air-Purifying Escape Respirators to Protect Workers Against CBRN Agents

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), along with the U.S. Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command (SBCCOM), and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) is planning to conduct a public stakeholder meeting on October 16, 2002, from 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.; and October 17, 2002, from 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. The purpose of the meeting is 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. The meeting will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, 1000 Corporate Drive, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania 15317. Reservations can be made by calling 724-743-5000. The rooms are being held under "NIOSH/NPPTL Public Meeting". The cut off date for making reservations is Friday, October 7, 2002. Interested parties should also confirm their plan to attend by either e-mailing their intentions to npptl@cdc.gov, or by contacting NIOSH at 412-386-4000.

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. Interested participants may obtain the latest copies of the APR CBRN and Air - Purifying Escape Respirator CBRN concept papers, as well as earlier versions of the concept papers used during the standard development effort, from the NIOSH contact identified below, or from the NIOSH National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory web site (address: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/). The September 16, 2002 APR CBRN concept paper will be used as the basis for discussion at the public meeting, as well as forming the basis for the new APR CBRN statement of standard.

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 E-mailed 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