Types of Preventive Clothing and Their Uses or Applications Part-1

Types of Preventive Clothing and Their Uses or Applications

Bilal Rashid
Dept. of Garment Manufacturing
National Textile University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Email: br.dmc.gcuf@gmail.com

CLOTHING:
Clothing is a word that can be substituted with “Garment” or “Apparel”. Clothing is fiber and textile material worn on the body. The wearing of clothing is mostly restricted to human beings and is a feature of nearly all human societies. The amount and type of clothing worn is dependent on physical stature, gender, as well as social and geographic considerations.

Physically, clothing serves many purposes:

1. It can serve as protection from various elements;
2. It can enhance safety during hazardous activities such as hiking and cooking;
3. It protects the wearer from rough surfaces, rash-causing plants, insect bites, splinters, thorns and prickles by providing a barrier between the skin and the environment.
4. It can insulate against cold or hot conditions;
5. It can provide a hygienic barrier, keeping infectious and toxic materials away from the body; and
6. It also provides protection from harmful UV radiation.

Clothes can be made out of fiber plants such as cotton, plastics such as polyester, or animal skin and hair such as wool. Humans began wearing clothes roughly 83,000 to 170,000 years ago.

Figure 1: “A baby wearing many items of winter clothing: headband, cap, fur-lined coat, shawl and sweater”

PROTECTIVE CLOTHING:
There are different types of Protective or Preventive Clothing being used now-a-days such as:

1. Biohazard (Biological Hazards) Survival Suit;
2. Positive Pressure Personnel Suits (PPPS);
3. Hazmat (Hazardous materials or Dangerous goods) Protection Suit;
4. Bomb Disposal Suit;
5. Chainsaw Safety Clothing;
6. Environment Suit;
7. Extreme Environmental Clothing;
8. Flame Resistant Environmental Ensemble (FREE);
9. Flame Resistant Organizational Gear (FROG);
10. Army Combat Shirt;
11. High-visibility (HV) Clothing;
12. Anti-Static Clothing;
13. Industrial Workwear;
14. Lifejacket (Personal Flotation Device);
15. Motorcycle Personal Protective Clothing;
16. NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) Suit;
17. Clean room Suit;
18. Arc Flash and Shock Hazard Protection Clothing;
19. Racing (Race Car Driver’s) Suit;
20. Flight Suit;
21. G-Suit (Anti-g-Suit);
22. Jumpsuit;
23. Boiler suit;
24. Siren Suit;
25. Ski Suit;
26. Pressure Suit;
27. Space Suit;
28. Wetsuit;
29. Dry suit;
30. Aprons;
31. Mittens;
32. Bulletproof Vest;
33. Flak Jacket;
34. Fire Proximity Suit;
35. Bunker Gear (Turnout Gear).

Biohazard (Biological Hazards) Survival Suit:
Biological Hazard:
Biological hazards, also known as biohazards, refer to biological substances that pose a threat to the health of living organisms, primarily that of humans. This can include medical waste or samples of a microorganism, virus or toxin (from a biological source) that can affect human health. It can also include substances harmful to animals.

The term and its associated symbol are generally used as a warning, so that those potentially exposed to the substances will know to take precautions. The biohazard symbol was developed in 1966 by Charles Baldwin, an environmental-health engineer working for the Dow Chemical Company on the containment products.

It is used in the labeling of biological materials that carry a significant health risk, including viral samples and used hypodermic needles.

Figure 2: “The international symbol for biological hazard”

Bio-safety Level:
A biosafety level is the level of the biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed facility. The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 (BSL-1) to the highest at level 4 (BSL-4). In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have specified these levels.

Biocontainment:

The concept of biocontainment is related to laboratory biosafety and pertains to microbiology laboratories in which the physical containment of highly pathogenic organisms or agents (bacteria, viruses, and toxins) is required, usually by isolation in environmentally and biologically secure cabinets or rooms, to prevent accidental infection of workers or release into the surrounding community during scientific research. The term “biocontainment” was coined in 1985, but the concept stretches back at least to the 1940s.

Figure 3: “Researchers working in Class III cabinets at the U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories, Camp Detrick, Maryland (1940s). Biocontainment procedures were pioneered at the USBWL in the 1940s and ’50s.”

Biohazard Survival Suit:

Figure 4: “The Aeromedical Isolation Team (AIT) of the U.S. Army operated mobile biocontainment equipment designed for patient care and transport from 1978 to 2010. (Photo by Bruce Maston, 2007)”

Figure 5: “Biohazard Survival Suits worn during disposal of biohazard material”

Figure 6: “Biohazard suit in use while carrying out duties inside a high-level biocontainment military grade laboratory”

Figure 7: “Special Services Unit Soldiers wearing Battlefield standard Biohazard Survival Suits to reduce the risks in case of Biological Warfare Tactics Employment”

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