The International Association of Fire Fighters has filed a lawsuit to take away “cancer-causing” PFAS chemical compounds from firefighter protecting gear.
The labor union on Thursday in Dedham’s Norfolk County Superior Court sued the National Fire Protection Association, citing NFPA’s position in imposing a testing customary that successfully requires the usage of PFAS in gear.
PFAS, poisonous per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, are present in firefighter bunker gear and have been linked to most cancers, the main reason behind firefighter demise. Nearly 75% of these honored on the 2022 Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial died of occupational most cancers.
“The very gear designed to protect firefighters, to keep us safe, is killing us,” mentioned General President Edward Kelly, including that the testing customary from NFPA “needlessly requires the use of PFAS in firefighter gear.”
“It’s about removing the cancer-causing chemicals in our gear and finding justice for our brother and sister members,” Kelly mentioned concerning the lawsuit that seeks damages and different reduction.
NFPA’s Standard 1971 establishes minimal ranges of safety from thermal, bodily, environmental, and organic hazards confronted throughout firefighting.
The customary requires utilizing PFAS within the center moisture barrier of firefighter bunker gear to fulfill the NFPA’s Ultraviolet Light Degradation Test — which requires turnout gear to be uncovered to UV gentle for 40 hours with out degradation. The solely substance that may go the take a look at for that lengthy is PFAS.
The lawsuit seeks to carry the NFPA chargeable for not eradicating the damaging take a look at from its Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting.
“Even when presented with independent science on the health and safety risks, the NFPA has refused to help save our lives,” Kelly mentioned. “The IAFF has a duty to protect our members’ health and their families’ wellbeing.”
The IAFF has retained three legislation companies in its effort to fight most cancers within the hearth service. The companies, collectively generally known as the PFAS Law Firms, can be found to help IAFF members made sick by PFAS publicity at work.
NFPA in a press release mentioned, “NFPA shares the concern of the entire fire service community around the health and safety of first responders. We have not yet been served with this complaint so we can’t comment on it.”
NFPA added, “The specific issue of the first responder PPE is before the Technical Committee for NFPA 1970, Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural and Proximity Firefighting, Work Apparel and Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) for Emergency Services, and Personal Alert Safety Systems (PASS) through our open-consensus standards development process.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
