View Single Post
  #5  
Old 07-20-2019, 12:28 AM
StainlessSteelCynic's Avatar
StainlessSteelCynic StainlessSteelCynic is offline
Registered Registrant
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 2,375
Default

I'll add my voice to nuke11's.
I used to work in a laboratory for the mining industry so we dealt with many levels of chemical safety. For example I dealt with cyanide, caustic soda and hydroflouric, sulphuric, phosphoric, nitric & hydrochloric acids on a daily to weekly basis.
All our personal protective equipment was designed to counter chemicals and it had no biological protection capacity. We were not rated for bio-agents and therefore didn't need that level of protection.

So what I'm saying is, while lower MOPP levels would be fine for dealing with most chemicals, it's only the highest MOPP level that could effectively counter biological contamination.
I'm not personally up to speed on MOPP levels (because I was in the Aussie Army Reserve and that was over 20 years ago now) but a quick check on Google shows that only at MOPP Level 3 is the mask required to be worn. While the mask protects against bio-agents, the lower levels of MOPP are simply not sufficient protection for BSL considerations. Without the mask actually being worn, a fair number of bio-agents will easily get into your body through respiration let alone through any skin contact and even at MOPP Lvl 3, the gloves aren't worn.

So yes, I'm arguing strongly in favour of nuke11's opinion.
Part of the reason I argue for MOPP Lvl 4 even with lower levels of BSL is that unless a person is specifically trained to recognize the various bio-agents and their methods of contamination, they are unlikely to really know if the bio-agent is safe to handle without the use of a full suite of PPE.
Reply With Quote