How to buy body armor for EMS personnel
EMS personnel are becoming receptive to the idea that body armor is now the accepted level of all-hazard personal protective equipment. Much like the cultural shift to the routine wearing of gloves and eye protection for protection against infectious disease exposure, the appropriate use of body armor must become an organizational norm for incident response, even incidents that are not obviously violent or likely to become so.To get more news about best bullet proof vests, you can visit bulletproofboxs.com official website.
The need for EMS body armor is in part from the changing role and operations of EMS personnel during and after an active shooter/multiple casualty incident has been changing for several years. The "Fire/Emergency Medical Services Department Operational Considerations and Guide for Active Shooter and Mass Casualty Incidents" describes incorporating tactical medicine into active shooter events. The FEMA information comes with other lectures during the Special Operations Medical Association conference which talked about ways to get EMS and fire department personnel into the warm or hot zone [1].
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Chiefs support the Rescue Task Force concept. This medical response method equips fire and EMS personnel with body armor and sends them into the warm and hot zones, which has been almost unheard of up until recently [1].
Considerations, planning and interagency training should occur around the concept of properly trained, armored medical personnel who are escorted into areas of mitigated risk, which are clear but not secure areas, to execute triage, medical stabilization at the point of wounding, and provide for evacuation or sheltering-in-place. Some jurisdictions accomplish this through the deployment of Rescue Task Forces[1].
In addition to active shooter response EMS agencies are also considering body armor to protect personnel from the daily risk of violent patient encounters. A volunteer firefighter was shot and killed by an Arkansas man when the firefighter responder for a medical emergency call at the man's home. Ambulances have been shot at and EMS personal in Detroit and San Diego were stabbed by bystanders
Types of body armor
Before purchasing body armor paramedic chiefs and EMS leaders need to understand its construction to make an informed decision about the level of protection EMS providers need.
Soft armor
Soft armor panels are typically constructed of multiple layers of ballistic-resistant materials which are sometimes called aramid fibers. The number of layers within the panel and the order in which these layers are placed influence its overall performance. Additional energy from the projectile is absorbed by each successive layer of material.
A soft armor panel works much like a baseball catcher’s mitt. When a handgun bullet strikes the panel, it is caught in a web of strong fibers. These fibers absorb and disperse the impact energy that is transmitted to the panel from the bullet. This process causes the bullet to deform or mushroom [2].
Hard armor
Hard armor plates may be constructed from ceramics, compressed laminate sheets, metallic plates or composites that incorporate more than one material.
Generally speaking, hard armor plates work in one of two ways: They can either capture and deform the bullet, or they can break up the bullet. In both instances, the armor then absorbs and distributes the force of the impact [2]