By FireRescue1 Staff
QUINCY, Mass. — The NFPA has consolidated four firefighter PPE standards into the new NFPA 1970: Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural and Proximity Firefighting, Work Apparel, Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) for Emergency Services, and Personal Alert Safety Systems (2025 edition).
PPE was previously covered in four separate standards:
- NFPA 1971 (structural and proximity firefighting ensembles such as helmets, footwear, gloves, garments and hoods)
- NFPA 1975 (station uniforms)
- NFPA 1981 (SCBA)
- NFPA 1982 (personal alert safety systems, PASS)
According to the NFPA, the consolidation effort aimed to streamline and simplify the standards into one comprehensive standard to enhance clarity, improve consistency, and reduce redundancy in the standards governing safety gear have now come to fruition.
Changes in the new NPFA 1970 standard involve a variety of areas impacting PPE manufacturers:
- Manufacturer claims related to the limited amounts of total PFAS in clothing products and how that is tested and measured.
- New requirements for the testing and analysis of restricted substances, including heavy metals, dyes, phthalates, fire retardants, PFAS, and other chemicals metals, in major materials used in the construction of protective clothing items.
- New requirement that all structural firefighting hoods have a particulate-blocking layer.
- Minimum intrinsic safety criteria for electronics or components that are powered and relied on electrical circuitry used in any protective clothing or equipment.
- The alarm levels for SCBA end-of-service life indicator alarms and heads-up display signals were modified based on air cylinder size.
The consolidation effort, part of the Emergency Response and Responder Safety Document Consolidation Plan, began in 2020.
Learn more in the FireRescue1 webinar, “The final NFPA 1970: Key protections and implications for firefighter safety,” on Oct. 29.
