1.1 Scope. 1.1.1* This standard shall specify minimum requirements for the design, performance, testing, and certification for all personal alert safety systems (PASS) for emergency services personnel. A.1.1.1 NFPA 1500, Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program, requires that each person involved in rescue, fire fighting, or other hazardous duties be provided with and use a PASS. PASS should be worn on protective clothing or protective equipment, or as an integrated part of another item of protective clothing or protective equipment and used whenever the member is involved in fire suppression or similar activities, regardless of whether SCBA is worn. This might require the PASS to be moved from one protective clothing item to another or the department to purchase additional PASS for use where structural protective clothing is not worn, as in, for example, wildland fire fighting, technical rescue, and high-angle rescue. PASS are designed to assist in locating fire fighters or other emergency services personnel who become incapacitated or are in need of assistance. RF PASS contain an optional RF transceiver that enables the PASS to automatically transmit alarm signals and receive evacuation alarms via RF signals. The RF PASS responds to an evacuation alarm with an audible and visual signal. A complete RF PASS system includes a base station that monitors for an alarm signal from the portable RF PASS unit and emits an audible and visual signal when this alarm is received. The base station is also capable of sending an evacuation alarm to the RF PASS. NFPA 1561, Standard on Emergency Services Incident Management System, and Section 8.4 of NFPA 1500, Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program, require every fire department to establish a system of fire fighter accountability that provides for the tracking and inventory of all members during emergency operations. 1.1.2* This standard shall specify the requirements for all new PASS, including, but not limited to, stand-alone PASS, integrated PASS, and RF PASS. A.1.1.2 Appropriate testing criteria have been developed to include RF PASS in this standard as an option. Purchasers and manufacturers of PASS should understand that NFPA 1982 addresses the minimum requirements for PASS. New technologies and capabilities are available for PASS for the tracking and accountability of emergency services personnel, and emergency services organizations might want to consider specifying such additional features and capabilities that are not included within the minimum standard. PASS enhancements (accessories) could include the following: (1) Electronic personnel accountability (2) Person-to-person local distress notification (3) Person locator systems (4) Additional systems information (data logging features such as cylinder pressure, temperature, breathing rates, elapsed time, etc.) Where purchasers are interested in RF PASS capabilities, they should consider the benefits and limitations of the additional capabilities before making a purchase. Emergency services organizations vary greatly in size, response types, and capabilities. Fire departments on the West Coast, for example, are more likely to encounter multiple-alarm wildland fires than New York City, Boston, or Chicago, which are more likely to experience multiple-alarm tenement or row house building fires than wildfires. Flood-prone regions are less likely to have underground garages, sub-basements, or subway systems. All these examples provide different challenges for the utilization of current versions of RF PASS. RF PASS utilize radio signal technology. Radio signals react differently in variable and different environments. Different environments present different challenges to radio communications and radio signals. Transmission of radio signals is affected by topography, weather conditions, building layout and design, and construction material, as well as other obstructions that might be in a given area. In the testing lab environment, alarm systems, monitoring devices, and even personal alert devices, such as PASS, cannot be “tested” in the total environment in which they could be used. Prospective end users, however, can conduct field testing of such devices in the total environment in which they could be used. Devices such as antennas or repeaters are incorporated into radio frequency (RF) systems used in large industrial, commercial, and residential facilities. Realistic and rigorous on-site testing of systems and components will help ensure satisfactory coverage and help the user develop reasonable expectations. Physical testing of personnel safety systems utilizing any form of RF technology should be conducted in an actual or realistic environment. Current RF laboratory tests offer very good indicators regarding the reach and penetration of the RF signal(s). However, no lab test can take into account the variety of construction and obstructions commonly found, such as building layout and design, construction materials, topography, and environmental factors. Users must take local factors into consideration in their immediate response areas and consider such things as local topography, weather conditions, and local forms of construction for the system to meet their expectations. Based on actual jurisdictional performance testing, appropriate public safety or government officials can make informed decisions regarding the purchase, use, and development of operational procedures to be used in providing the maximum level of personal protection for fire and rescue personnel in their jurisdiction. Purchasers must be aware that a PASS is only one component of an overall accountability system or program. Purchasers must develop operational procedures to ensure that the system will function as expected. Recommendations. Considering the factors noted in the preceding paragraphs, the purchaser should develop a testing and performance criteria similar to the following: (1) Prior to using or purchasing a product or system, the local emergency services organization should select several different typical target hazard test locations in their normal response area for field testing of the product or system. (2) Consideration should also be given that these target hazard test locations should provide rigorous testing scenarios and should include radio transmission dead spots, unusual topography, unusual building complexes, aboveground and belowground configurations, and construction. (3) A person(s) designated by the local head of the emergency services organization(s) should participate in site selection and field testing. (4) Testing should be conducted by simulation of actual emergency operations and conditions. (a) The emergency services official should designate an area where the base station receiving components of the RF PASS could be located if the incident were real. (b) Emergency responders should wear or carry the devices just as they would during an actual emergency and travel to all areas of the simulated emergency scene test area. (c) Alarm signals must be activated from many areas within the test site while the base station is monitored to ensure reception or acknowledgment of each alarm. (d) Attempts should be made to make the test scenarios for RF PASS as difficult and challenging as possible so problem areas where an RF signal could have difficulty penetrating a building or structure can be isolated and addressed. (e) Testing results should be recorded, with environmental factors such as the type of occupancy (residential, commercial, industrial, etc.), construction features, weather conditions, and location noted. (5) Enhancement devices (leaky coaxial feeders, repeaters, enhanced radio receivers) can be used, as necessary, with placement and effectiveness recorded. (6) Fire or emergency responders who would routinely have multiple base stations on the scene of an actual emergency should place multiple base stations in service during field-testing scenarios in accordance with their standard operating procedures. (7) NFPA 5000, Building Construction and Safety Code, outlines the eight basic types of construction that should be considered as part of the field-test criteria. (8) Users should evaluate the effectiveness of the RF PASS as it relates to the developed operational procedures. By conducting these recommended field tests, the end user can witness the performance of the product in the environment in which it is intended to be used, determine, with reasonable accuracy, whether the product does or does not meet their expectations, and then make an appropriate decision. The committee clearly understands the benefits of not being able to provide an incident commander with immediate notification of fire fighters in distress as well as a method to evacuate fire fighters in the event of an imminent building collapse or other emergency. A study of the NIOSH Firefighter Death and Injury Reports over the past 10 years validates the necessity for these immediate notifications. As indicated in a letter from the CDC/NIOSH/DSR Investigation Team, dated April 14, 2011, “We are in agreement that providing PASS devices that offer two-way Mayday and Evacuation signal capabilities would greatly enhance fire fighter safety at structure fires and other emergency response events.” It is our intention to take a proactive approach to encourage government, educational institutions, and third-party compliance agencies to work in concert to develop appropriate test criteria that will validate the performance of new and emerging technologies. 1.1.3 This standard shall not specify requirements for any manufactured to previous editions of this standard. 1.1.4 This standard shall not specify requirements for any accessories that could be attached to the but that are not necessary for the to meet the requirements of this standard. 1.1.5 This standard shall not be construed as addressing all the safety concerns associated with the use of compliant PASS. It shall be the responsibility of the persons and organizations that use compliant PASS to establish safety and health practices and to determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use. 1.1.6 This standard shall not be construed as addressing all the safety concerns, if any, associated with the use of this standard by testing facilities. It shall be the responsibility of the persons and organizations that use this standard to conduct testing of PASS to establish safety and health practices and to determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to using this standard for any designing, manufacturing, and testing. 1.1.7 Nothing herein is intended to restrict any jurisdiction or manufacturer from exceeding these minimum requirements.