Sjøforsvarets vernedrakter - undersøkelse av verneevne og effekt av lagringsforhold

NBC-protective suits used by the Norwegian Navy (SM3) have been examined. The aim was to investigate the possible effect of storage conditions on the protective properties. Four suits had been stored onboard vessels. The integrity of the packaging of these suits varied from undamaged to totally rended. These suits were compared to three suits that had been stored under stabile conditions onshore with their sealed packaging undamaged. The protective properties were checked using liquid sulphur mustard (HD) as a contaminant, contamination load 10 g/m². The protection requirement is that the accumulated penetrated amount of HD 6 hours after exposure shall not exceed 4 μg/cm². The suits stored under stabile conditions gave a penetrated amount of HD from 0.5 to 0.8 μg/cm² after 6 hours and from 1.0 to 1.7 μg/cm² after 24 hours. For the suits stored on vessels the penetrated amount varied from 1.7 to 2.0 μg/cm² after 6 hours and from 2.3 to 2.7 μg/cm² after 24 hours. Hence, these suits offer an excellent protection against HD up to 24 hours after 7 -10 years storage. There was no correlation between the condition of the packaging and the total penetrated amount of HD. The conclusion from this study is that there is no need to replace suits with a damaged packaging. It is sufficient to mend the packaging.