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The Care and Repair Facility at Bunker Gear Cleaning is fully trained to perform all three inspections according to NFPA 1851 standards, these inspections comprise of:
- Routine Inspection
- Advanced Inspection
- Complete Liner Inspection
Routine Inspection
The routine inspection is generally completed by the firefighter as often as possible, they will be looking for problems such as soiling, physical damage, contamination, damage trim, or trim that is completely missing, missing stitching and loss of seam integrity and correctly assembled components.
Advanced Inspection
The advanced inspection of bunker gear has to abide by NFPA 1851 guidelines and should be conducted every at least once every six months. It is compulsory that a certified third party is utilized to inspect this protective clothing and this is where Bunker Gear Cleaning plays an important role.
It is required that all of the following be adhered to during the advanced inspection, and this has to be carried out by fire department trained personnel or certified Independent Service
Provider (ISP):
- Any soiled ensemble elements must be cleaned prior to inspection
- Inspection findings must be documented
- All elements of the routine inspection must also be followed
Required tests must be performed on garment elements
- A light evaluation test of liners must be performed.
- Evaluation for leakage should take place.
- Both physical and thermal damage should be assessed
- Inspect for missing hardware
- Testing of the moisture barrier integrity
- Inspection of seam,
material and label integrity
- Inspection of reflectivity
- Inspection of Closure system
Complete Liner Inspection
For bunker gear that has been in use for three years or longer a complete liner inspection should take place once at least every twelve months. This ensures that current NFPA 1851 guidelines are adhered to. The inspection must be conducted by a certified third party, as such Bunker Gear Cleaning is able to perform the complete liner inspection and carry out the following required actions:
- Liner separation to expose inner thermal liner and moisture barrier
- Required moisture barrier test
- Evaluation of water penetration barrier
- Liners passing the inspection must be sewn back together
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