SE400 fan-supplied,
positive-pressure,
breath-responsive
demand respirator

Voice communication

Dual battery

Domestic Preparedness
filter

The greatest obstacle that faces a first responder is uncertainty. What are the dangers? What will I have to do? How far am I from safety?

When it comes to personal protective equipment, uncertainty is a deciding factor. In terms of respiratory protection, if the airborne hazard is unknown, the only possible solution is a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and an encapsulated gas suit. The same goes for environments where the atmosphere is either IDLH (Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health) or oxygen-deficient.

Due to the BA system's need for frequent replacement of air cylinders, it is important to quickly establish the nature of the danger, so that breathing protection with longer operational duration can be used.

As soon as a little more is known about the nature of the hazard, other opportunities are opened up. If the contaminant is known, if it is filtrable, and if the air contains enough oxygen for human breathing, the SE400 positive-pressure demand respirator can be used. This type of breathing protection supplies clean air at even higher rates than a breathing apparatus.

More importantly, the SE400 keeps working for several hours on a single battery, and can even be fitted with an extra battery for long-term operation at very hard work rates.

The SE400 is part of the SE-shield system of equipment specially designed for emergency response personnel, and offers many features that are crucial for the first responder:

— Air delivery of more than 400 litres/minute
— Full integration with protective suits
— Internal pressurisation of suits
— Protection from CBRN materials
— Extremely high protection levels
— No breathing resistance
— Long operation (4h or longer)
— Electronic voice communication
— High mobility
— Constantly monitored functionality
— Withstands thorough decontamination

Watch a video of the SE-shield system as it is used in First Response situations. See the various parts of the system, travel through the equipment in a 3D computer animation, and see how pressurization works.

Tyvek F suit
of military-grade
material, disposable,
pressurised and
impermeable to
CBRN warfare agents,
including nerve gas,
tear gas, anthrax, sarin,
smallpox, radioactive
particles etc.

Encapsulated suit
in heavy-duty PVC,
pressurised and
re-useable

VPS material

HPS material

Testing suits

A simple test can dramatically demonstrate the differences between various suits, or the difference between taping the seams of the Tyvek F suit and not taping them.

The test is repeated several times. Here's how it works:

The test person puts on a respirator and suit and enters a contamination chamber.

The chamber is sealed and a Fluoresceine dye aerosol is sprayed inside the chamber while the test person performs various exercises for several minutes.

The chamber is opened and the test person decontaminated.

Under UV light it is easy to spot – literally – the differences:

To see a sample test, pick one of the following:

Download a PowerPoint presentation (1.6 Mb)

Watch a video of such a test