PASS Signals Reduced at High Temps
I saw this posted on Firehouse.com yesterday, but didn't take the time to comment:
November 30, 2005 -- Exposure to high temperature environments may cause the loudness of Standard on Personal Alert Safety Systems (PASS) alarm signals to be reduced, causing the alarm signal to become indistinguishable from background noise at the incident scene....
NIOSH reported that, during the investigation of four fire fighter fatalities that occurred from 2001 to 2004, PASS alarms were not heard or were barely audible. The PASS alarms had been certified as compliant to NFPA 1982, 1998 Edition, and involved both stand-alone PASS and SCBA-integrated PASS.
If this turns out to be a persistent problem, it kind of defeats the purpose of the PASS device.
After reading the rest of the article, it sounds like there needs to be more testing to identify the specific cause of the problem. I try to read through the NIOSH publications occasionally, so I'll keep you posted.
