GB2580570A

GB2580570A - Personal protective equipment

Info

Publication number: GB2580570A
Application number: GB2004997.9A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Paul Luke Jones Clinton
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2020-04-03
Filing date: 2020-04-03
Publication date: 2020-07-22
Anticipated expiration: 2040-04-03
Also published as: GB2580570B; GB202012834D0; GB202004997D0; GB202007160D0

Abstract

Personal protection equipment headgear (10) comprising: a visor (12); support means (26) adapted, in use, to engage with a user’s head and to support the visor (12) in a substantially fixed position relative to a user’s head; and an enclosure (22), wherein the visor (12) is manufactured from a transparent material and being formed so that, in use, it is spaced apart from, and located forward of, a user’s face; has an upper edge portion connected to the support means (26) from which, in use, the visor (12) is suspended; and a peripheral edge portion being any edge or part of an edge thereof other than the upper edge portion, which is connected to the enclosure (26) and wherein the enclosure (26) is formed form a sheet of flexible material and is adapted, in use, to extend between at least a portion of the peripheral edge portion of the visor (12) and clothing of the user. The enclosure might be in the form of a hood,and might be formed of a perforated paper or fabric sheet in order to have a filtering effect. The enclosure might include means to affix its periphery to the wearer’s clothing.

Description

PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

This invention relates to personal protective equipment, and in particular, but without limitation, to personal protective equipment (PPE) suitable for use in hospitals for infectious disease amelioration and/or control.

When there is an outbreak of an infectious disease, one of the methods of disease transmission is via droplets, which can be coughed or sneezed out of the nose/mouth of infected patients, and which contain viruses or other pathogens. When the droplets come into contact with another person, either by way of the other person walking through an aerosol/suspension of those droplets, by touching a surface upon which the droplets have fallen, or even by direct transmission, then the virus/pathogen is likely to be passed on to the other person who could become infected. When hospital staff are working with patients who have infectious diseases, or where medical practitioners are carrying out aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs), such as intubations, they often wear personal protective equipment (PPE), which in the case of a pandemic outbreak, can be in very short supply.

Ideally, each member of staff or person coming into contact with an infected patient should wear a full suite of personal protective equipment, including gloves/gauntlets, gowns/overalls, a breathing filter or respirator and a visor or other hood to cover their face. However, wearing such PPE for extended periods of time can be exhausting and/or uncomfortable, and in any case, it can adversely affect the person's ability to move or see clearly -and hence work effectively. The use of PPE therefore tends to be somewhat limited -so as to strike an appropriate balance between availability of supplies, protection levels, and improving the performance of medical staff. Nevertheless, even where a full suite of PPE is indicated, in the case of a pandemic outbreak, for example, the PPE may be in short supply and/or unavailable. This means that medical staff often have to make compromises and wear, potentially inadequate PPE.

For example, it may be indicated to use an FFP3 or N99 full-face respirator when working with patients who have infectious diseases, but where such respirators are unavailable and/or in short supply, staff will often have to revert to wearing disposable face masks, or even surgical masks, which provide limited or inadequate protection to the wearer in the case of many infectious diseases.

A need therefore exists for a solution to this problem, and in particular, for an apparatus which can be used in conjunction with potentially sub-optimal face masks to improve the protection afforded to a wearer thereof.

Aspects of the invention are set forth in the appended independent claims. Preferred and/or optional features of the invention are set forth in the appended dependent claims.

The invention provides PPE headgear comprising of a visor, a support for the visor and an enclosure. The idea is that the PPE of the invention is worn over other protective equipment, such as a hospital gown and a face mask of some sort.

One of the main areas of vulnerability for staff working with infected patients is their head/face area, because this is often in close proximity to the infected patient and because the eyes, nose and mouth, as well as the ears in certain circumstances, provide pathways through which airborne or droplet pathogens can enter the body. In particular, if an infected patient coughs or sneezes, this is likely to generate a cloud of aerosol droplets containing the virus/pathogen, which can easily be sprayed onto the faces of nearby medical staff and/or form an aerosol/suspension through which the staff may walk when attending the patient. If these droplets/pathogens land on the face of the medical staff, every time the medical staff touches their face or eyes, there is potential here for them to become infected.

However, by providing a screen or barrier around the wearer's face, the PPE of the invention is able to reduce the likelihood of directly-sprayed droplets/pathogens and/or airborne/suspended droplets/pathogens from coming into contact with the face of the wearer. Visors also reduce the ability of the wearer to touch their face. Visors for this purpose are known, but due to the size of the openings around them, do not afford adequate protection in many cases.

In the present invention, however, by the provision of a transparent visor, which sits in front of, and which preferably covers the wearer's face provides protection, in conjunction with the other features. The visor is suitably manufactured from a lightweight material such as polycarbonate, acrylic, styrene, ABS or acetate sheet, which reduces fatigue for the wearer compared with a full-face respirator. In addition, by manufacturing the visor from a lightweight sheet of flexible material, such as one of the above materials, the optical transmission properties of that material do not significantly impede the vision of the wearer.

By spacing the visor in front of the wearer's face, it is possible for the wearer to still don a protective face mask underneath the visor, as well as conventional spectacles, if required. Also, by spacing the visor forward of the face, it is not necessary to have the visor "fitted" to the wearer as the PPE headgear of the invention can be made as a "one size fits all" type device.

Preferably, the visor has a 2-dimensional or a 3-dimensional profile, which can be moulded or otherwise formed, such as by vacuum forming or by injection moulding. The advantage of giving the visor a 2-dimensional or a 3-dimensional profile is that it becomes inherently more rigid due to the "change of direction" of the sheet. This reduces the likelihood of the visor becoming an unnecessary distraction and/or flapping around in front of the wearer's face.

Most preferably, the visor has a 3-dimensional profile, with an upper part that extends up and over to some extent, the user's forehead area, and a lower part that curves round under the chin area somewhat. The visor also preferably curves laterally around the sides of the face.

Conventional face visors have a large gap underneath the chin area of the wearer, which presents a large opening through which airborne pathogens can enter the visor. This is particularly so where the wearer is a medical practitioner standing over the patient, for example, at the bedside or on an operating table. The flux of pathogens upwards from the patient can thus easily be caught or funnelled by conventional face visors, which have a large opening underneath the chin area.

Extended-length face visors are known, which reduce this gap, but they tend to inhibit the wearer's ability to tilt their head forwards, which adversely affects their performance.

The invention, by contrast, suitably closes-down the opening under the chin by providing a 3-diemsional profile that tucks under the chin. It also has the enclosure, which suitably connects to and extends down from a lower edge of the visor, thereby potentially closing that gap altogether.

By providing a 3-dimensional profile, the visor can wrap under the chin somewhat, as well as over the forehead, thus increasing the coverage of the visor. By enlarging the visor, the amount of protection is increased, the angles from which the face is protected from direct spray are increased, and field of view of the wearer is increased also.

A part of the visor is supported in front of the user's face by a support means, which is suitably of the type of a cap or other headgear. The cap or headgear is suitably manufactured from a breathable fabric, which is preferably elasticated, or otherwise adjustable, so as to enable it to fit over various head sizes/hairstyles without undue difficulty. A top edge of the visor is suitably sealingly affixed to the support, for example, by way of an adhesive strip, welding or by other means.

The PPE headgear of the invention also comprises an enclosure, which forms a barrier between the visor and the user's clothing. This is suitably manufactured from a flexible material, such as from cloth or paper, and it suitably extends between the edge or edges of the visor and the user's clothing, somewhat akin to a hood or cape. Suitably, means is provided on the enclosure for affixing or sealing a peripheral edge of the enclosure to the wearer's underlying clothing. This may be a Velcro strip, a tacky strip and/or a strip of pressure-sensitive adhesive. By being able to connect the periphery of the enclosure to the wearer's clothing, a physical barrier can be formed between the outside environment and the interior of the PPE headgear.

Preferably, the means for affixing or sealing at least part of the peripheral edge of the enclosure to the wearer's underlying clothing comprises self-adhesive tape. This is particularly advantageous because the peripheral edge of the enclosure, when the sticky tape is exposed, can stick itself to the underlying clothing with little or minimal user intervention. Thus, in certain embodiments, the enclosure can be simply draped over the wearer's underlying clothing/PPE and self-adhere thereto.

In one possible embodiment, a rear portion of the enclosure is omitted so that air can enter behind the visor from behind the wearer. This inhibits or reduces the likelihood of the visor from fogging up in use and also minimises any additional effort required for breathing.

However, because aerosol droplets and/or pathogens can remain in suspension in the air, by providing an opening behind the visor, there is a possibility that a wearer may concentrate airborne pathogens inside their visor by walking through such a cloud/aerosol of droplets/pathogens. In order to ameliorate against this, a breathable enclosure is suitably provided, which completely surrounds the wearer's head/shoulders and which connects between the visor and the wearer's clothing. A breathable enclosure could be manufactured from a perforated paper or cloth, so as to provide a physical barrier, but also to allow air to pass through the enclosure. Suitably, the size of the perforations are one micron or less so as to permit air to pass through the enclosure, but to prevent/inhibit droplets of greater than one micron in size from passing through.

The rationale behind choosing a one-micron mesh or perforation size is that the majority of airborne particles/droplets emitted during sneezing/coughing/talking are greater than one micron in size. Therefore, a majority of airborne particles/droplets can be prevented from getting inside the visor by the provision of a one-micron or less mesh or perforation fabric. The remaining, much smaller quantity, of airborne particles could then be filtered out by a PPE facemask worn underneath the visor. Whilst the PPE facemask worn underneath the visor may not necessarily be adequate for the conditions, by using the enclosure as a pre-filter, the amount of work that the underlying PPE face mask has to do can be greatly reduced. This could, therefore, increase the effectiveness of an otherwise inadequate face mask.

Embodiments of the invention shall now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side view of an embodiment of PPE headgear in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 is a rear view of the PPE headgear of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a front perspective view of the PPE headgear of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a schematic side view of an alternative embodiment of PPE headgear in accordance with the invention; Figure 5 is a schematic rear view of the PPE headgear of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a front perspective view of the PPE headgear of Figure 4; and Figure 7 is a graph of airborne droplet size distribution; and Figure 8 is a schematic illustration showing how PPE headgear in accordance with the invention can be nested for storage and/or transportation purposes.

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, PPE headgear 10 in accordance with the invention is shown. It 10 comprises a visor 12 manufactured from a vacuum-formed, 3-dimensionally profiled plastics sheet, which covers the face 14 of a user 16 when worn. The visor 12 extends above the forehead, and tucks in under the user's chin.

As can be seen from Figures 1, 2 and 3, there is a space 18 between the visor 12 and the user's face 14, which enables the user 16 to don a breathing mask 20 and/or spectacles (not shown) underneath the visor 12. The space 18 also ensures that the user 16 does not feel claustrophobic when wearing the PPE headgear 10 and the likelihood of fogging of the visor 12 is also reduced.

The visor 12 has a 3-dimensional profile, which covers the face and extends to a level 22 below the chin and to a level 24 on top of the user's head. The visor 12 is held in-situ by a support means 26, which, in the illustrated embodiment, takes the form of a half-cap, manufactured from elasticated or resilient material, which fits snugly onto the user's head 16.

An edge 28 of the cap 26 is sealingly affixed to a rear edge of the visor 12 by a weld or adhesive tape.

A fabric or paper enclosure 30 is also provided, which connects to the lower edge 22 of the visor 12 and forms a hood or cape around the shoulders of the wearer. The visor 12 is sealingly connected to the enclosure 30 along its lower edge 22 by a strip of self-adhesive tape, a weld, adhesive or by some other suitable means.

As can be seen in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, in particular, an opening 32 is provided around the back of the neck of the user 16 providing an opening to the space 18 within the visor 12 from the behind the user 16. This opening 32 provides adequate air circulation to enable the user 16 to breathe without undue difficulty.

The visor 12 protects the user from directly-sprayed liquid droplets, viruses and/or airborne particles and also reduces the likelihood of the user 16 from touching their face with their hands or other objects. This greatly reduces the likelihood of pathogens or viruses from coming into contact with the user's eyes, nose, and mouth.

The purpose of the PPE headgear 10 this embodiment, is not to form a sealed enclosure around the head of the user, but rather to protect them against direct spray, which provides an additional layer of protection for the user. Moreover, it prevents liquid droplets from landing directly on the face mask 20 whose effectiveness can be greatly diminished by the presence of wet droplets on it.

Figures 4, Sand 6 of the drawings show a similar type of PPE headgear 100 to that previously described, save for the fact that rather than having the opening 32 at the back of the visor 12, the enclosure 30 extends upwards 300 so as to connect to the lower edge of the support/hat 26 as well as to the side and lower edges 22 of the visor 12.

In this particular embodiment, the enclosure 30 is manufactured from a material having a small pore -size perforated or reticulated structure thus acting as a filter or scrim and thus providing a physical barrier between the user's head and the outside environment.

Due to the lack of an opening 32, the enclosure 30 needs to be manufactured from a material that allows air through it to enable the user 16 to breathe comfortably. On the other hand, the pore size of the perforated or reticulated enclosure 30 must be small enough to prevent or inhibit the passage of liquid droplets therethrough Referring to Figure 7 of the drawings, a schematic graph of relative amount versus droplet size is shown for a typical sneeze or cough. As can be seen, the shape of the curve 400 comprises a sharp peak 402 around the 10-micron droplet size. Notably, there are very few droplets below 1 micron in size.

Therefore, if the pore size of the pores in the enclosure 30 fabric are of the order of 1 micron, and preferably less than 1 micron, then the vast majority of airborne droplets, as indicated by the shaded portion 404 of the graph in Figure 7 could, potentially, be blocked by the enclosure 30. This only leaves the relatively small amount 406 of sub-micron droplets to be filtered, which can be accomplished, in many cases, by the breathing mask 20, worn by the user 16, underneath the visor 12.

The embodiment of the invention shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6 therefore provides two levels of protection, namely a "coarse" filtration afforded by the PPE headgear 100, which blocks the majority of airborne droplets from coming into contact with the user's head or face. The smaller amount of droplets that pass through the enclosure 30 can be filtered by the face mask 20.

By removing the majority of the droplets from the air immediately surrounding the user's face, i.e. in the void 18, the amount of "work" that the face mask 20 has to do can be greatly reduced, and also the likelihood of wetting the face mask with airborne droplets is reduced.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiments, which are merely exemplary.

Advantages of the invention are manifold and will be readily apparent to the skilled reader. In particular, the embodiment of the invention shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings can be easily donned and doffed by a medical practitioner. The donning procedure simply involves extending the hat part 28 so that it extends rearwardly of the visor and slipping the PPE headgear 10 on in the same manner as, for example, a baseball cap, by pulling the visor down in front of the face. The fabric part 30 can then simply be tossed over the shoulders and the self-adhesive tabs pressed down to connect the fabric part to the underlying clothing. The provision of self-adhesive tape to secure the fabric part to the underlying clothing could mean that the PPE headgear automatically sticks to the wearer's under clothing thus minimising any contact required with the PPE headgear during donning.

Conversely, during doffing, the practitioner simply needs to lean forward over a receptacle, such as a laundry bag or waste bin, and un-gown in the usual way. Because, by this stage, the PPE headgear 10 is already affixed to the underlying surgical gown, by removing the gown by leaning forwards over the bin, it automatically removes the PPE headgear with it and disposes of it into the said bin.

The only variation to this procedure would be where the medical practitioner is wearing PPE headgear in accordance with Figures 4,5 and 6 of the drawings, in which case the additional step of undoing the joining tape at the back of the headgear could also need to be carried out.

The risk of cross-infection can be reduced due to the reduction in the amount of touch required by the operator during donning and doffing of the PPE headgear. Because, effectively, the PPE headgear and underlying gown become conjoined, during use, this greatly facilitates doffing the headgear because both the visor and the surgical gown can be doffed as one unit. When leaning forward over a clinical waste bag, the visor and surgical gown fall forward away from the user, thereby minimising any risk of contact with contaminated PPE.

A further advantage of the invention includes the fact that because it is manufactured from lightweight, flexible materials, it can be nested as shown in Figure 8 of the drawings. Simply by inverting the hat part into the visor, it is possible to nest several of them together, which gives rise to a compact configuration for storage and transportation purposes. Moreover, once doffed, because the PPE headgear is manufactured from flexible, lightweight materials, it is possible to crush it down in a waste bag to reduce the volume occupied thereby, which facilitates waste stream management as well.

Claims

CLAIMS1. PPE headgear comprising: a visor support means adapted, in use, to engage with a user's head and to support the visor in a substantially fixed position relative to a user's head and an enclosure wherein the visor: is manufactured from a transparent material and being formed so that, in use, it is spaced apart from, and located forward of, a user's face; has an upper edge portion connected to the support means from which, in use, the visor is suspended; and a peripheral edge portion being any edge or part of an edge thereof other than the upper edge portion, which is connected to the enclosure and wherein the enclosure: is formed form a sheet of transparent material and being adapted, in use, to extend between at least a portion of the peripheral edge portion of the visor and clothing of the user.
2. The PPE headgear of claim 1, wherein the visor has a two-dimensional profile.
3. The PPE headgear of claim 1, wherein the visor has a three-dimensional profile.
4. The PPE headgear of claim 3, wherein the three-dimensional profile comprises a portion that extends, in use, above the brow of a wearer, and which tucks under the chin, in use, of the wearer.
5. The PPE headgear of any preceding claim, wherein the visor is manufactured from a thin, transparent plastics material.
6. The PPE headgear of claim 5, wherein the visor is manufactured from acetate.
7. The PPE headgear of any of claims 2 to 6, wherein the visor is vacuum formed into the two-or three-dimensional shape.
8. The PPE headgear of any preceding claim, wherein the support means comprises a hat-like portion that fits, in use, over the wearer's head.
9. The PPE headgear of any preceding claim, wherein the support means is manufactured from an elasticated material.
10. The PPE headgear of any preceding claim, wherein the support means is size-adjustable.
11. The PPE headgear of any preceding claim, wherein the enclosure is manufactured from paper sheet.
12. The PPE headgear of any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the enclosure is manufactured from cloth/fabric.
13. The PPE headgear of any preceding claim, wherein the enclosure is manufactured from perforated sheet.
14. The PPE headgear of claim 13, wherein the perforations are of a size that allow air to pass therethrough, but which inhibit and/or prevent passage of liquid droplets therethrough.
15. The PPE headgear of claim 13 or claim 14, wherein the perforations are substantially 1 micron or less in size.
16. The PPE headgear of any preceding claim, wherein the enclosure comprises means for affixing a periphery thereof, in use, to underlying clothing of a wearer.
17. The PPE headgear of any preceding claim, wherein the enclosure comprises means for substantially sealing a periphery thereof, in use, to underlying clothing of a wearer.
18. The PPE headgear of any preceding claim, wherein the enclosure connects to an entire peripheral edge of visor.