The discussion was opened by Olga Shishenina, moderator of the meeting, a Head of St. Petersburg International Health Forum, ExpoForum International. "The issue of protection from negative NBC factors is not raised particularly often on air, despite its relevance,’ the speaker said in her opening remarks. ‘Human safety and health depend on many factors people face not in emergency situations only, but in everyday life as well. For example, air pollution in metropolises or smoke formation in settlements located near the areas swallowed up by forest or field fires".

Modern threats, either natural or man-made by nature, that can affect human health in the worst way possible, were covered in the speech by Valery Dolgopolov, President, NPO Association of NBC Protection, Honored Chemist of the Russian Federation. A list of the most dangerous threats included accidents and diversions at radiological, chemical and ecologically dangerous facilities, terrorist attacks involving use of radioactive, hazardous chemical substances and pathogenic microorganisms, widespread outbreaks of infectious diseases, accumulation of hazardous chemicals in the environment, significant increase of industrial and household wastes of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd classes of hazard.

"Point No. 2 of the Strategy for Development of the NBC Protection System for the Military and Population clearly indicates that the modern state of NBC protection in the Russian Federation doesn’t reach the extent when there’s no unacceptable risk of causing harm to the life and health of population and environment in case of emergencies and man-made disasters", – the speaker said.

Anatoly Budko, Director of Federal State Budgetary Institution of Culture and Arts Russian Museum of Military Medicine, Doctor of Medicine, Professor, Chair of the St. Petersburg Scientific Society of Historians of Medicine, told about the experience of using PPE against negative NBC factors. The expert drew attention of the audience to a lack of paradigm for correct use of hygiene products and protection equipment in minds of today’s adults and teenagers – the population have neither a habit to wear medical face masks in public places, nor understanding of the mechanism to ensure protection. "The only social group we can influence is children. Interactive exhibitions in specialized museums can starkly illustrate protection mechanisms and shape correct and safe behavior models for the future that can be used in case of emergency or man-made disasters", – the speaker concluded.

The speech was dramatically completed with a screening of The Mask that Saved Millions, a film that demonstrated the exhibition of personal protection equipment in the Museum of Military Medicine.

The issue of regulatory framework for providing the population with protection equipment was addresses by Andrei Chernavsky, CEO of NPO Association of NBC Protection. According to the expert, some regulatory legal acts of EMERCOM of Russia, for example, those regarding the rules for PPE use and maintenance and its expiration date, have already become outdated, so they need to be revised.

"Currently there have been started discussions of a project for a new federal law on protection of population and territories from emergencies which will unite two laws: on civil protection and on protection of population and territories from emergencies of natural and man-made nature. At the meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation held in September this year, the President set an objective to perform analysis of the regulatory framework for industrial safety in order to prevent technological accidents and disasters on the territory of Russia. The expert community is expected to start discussing this issue as well soon", – the speaker shared regarding the immediate agenda and called for specialists to take active part in development and update of those regulatory legal acts.

Alexander Saltanov, Head of a representative office of NPO Association of NBC Protection in the Northwestern Federal District, disclosed some information on arrangements made to provide the population with PPE, provided the existing assortment of efficient protection equipment in accordance with the estimation of threats, and criteria for quality and safety assessment of means for NBC protection.

Grigory Yakushkin, Director of St. Petersburg State Public Establishment of Further Vocational Education Training Center for Civil Protection and Emergencies, proceeded with the discussion focusing on production, storage and update of personal protection equipment and the procedure of distribution among non-working population.

"Non-working population of St. Petersburg must be 100% equipped with gas helmets and respirators; also a 10% supply of protection equipment is provided for guests of the city who don’t live on the territory of the metropolis on a permanent basis. Besides, administration offices of city districts annually update data on the amount of provided protection equipment and a necessary amount of new PPE", – the expert said.

Alexandra Korobeinikova, expert in personal protection equipment certification of Test-St. Petersburg LLC, PhD in Chemistry, Honored Chemist of the Russian Federation, answered the questions on who and how assessed PPE efficiency and reliability, and how the system for certification of NBC protection equipment worked.

"Certification suggests 4 main blocks of performance evaluation, including identification and hygiene evaluation held in accredited laboratories – mostly in laboratories of the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing; evaluation of protection properties in a defined field of application; evaluation of the correctness of product labeling and completeness of information that must be provided in the operations manual; evaluation of the production cycle stability at the enterprise to ensure consistent deliveries of protection equipment in required amounts,’ Alexandra Vasilievna explained. ‘The entire certification system is automated to the maximum, but currently the number of accredited laboratories in Russia is not sufficient, neither are evaluation methods".

According to experts, it’s not enough just to acquire certified protection equipment to provide the best possible health protection; one should have knowledge of how to use PPE correctly. Grigory Yakushkin, Director of St. Petersburg State Public Establishment of Further Vocational Education Training Center for Civil Protection and Emergencies, completed his speech with a story about how high-qualified personnel and population in general could be trained for actions in case a possibility of man-made or natural disasters arose: ‘Courses on civil protection are given in each district of St. Petersburg (except the Pushkinsky District) to help train specialists and provide methodical support when holding various kinds of drills, trainings, including those that involve non-working population. The current system of education in this field works pretty well.’

Andrei Bogomolov, Chief PPE Expert of Zelinsky Group Ltd, analyzed qualities of various kinds of personal protection equipment in the framework of their application in the most diverse situations. ‘When choosing respiratory protection equipment in the context of emergency, the first thing to consider is two major indicators: concentration of toxic substances in the air and the oxygen content,’ the speaker elaborated. ‘We divide protection equipment into two large groups: filtering and isolating ones. The first group is used when the oxygen concentration in the air is at least 17%, and the content of toxic substances in the atmosphere should not exceed 0.5%. RPE that belongs to the group of isolating equipment can be used when the content of the toxic substance is unknown, its concentration is above 0.5%, and oxygen is partially or fully absent. Protective chambers for children can be called a special group.’

Yury Gorshkov, CEO of SIZ-Invest LLC, shared information on challenges his company faced in the process of selling the products and emphasized widespread substitution of such notions as a respirator and a medical mask. ‘It’s important to remember that a medical or protective mask is not a piece of respiratory protection equipment, but a hygiene product that prevent people who got ill from spreading the infection in public places. If people want to protect respiration organs, they need to choose a certified respirator – light-weight respiratory protection equipment. It’s reasonable to stock PPE for yourself and your close ones in advance, when the demand is low.’

The speaker finished his contribution with a demonstration of a video dedicated to participation of SIZ-Invest in the annual event The Night of Museums. Specialists of the organization collaborate with the Museum of Military Medicine and every year arrange an interactive program for adults and children in order to popularize the culture of correct use of protection equipment.

In conclusion of the discussion experts gave elaborate answers to questions of the audience. The audience inquired how the process of training for working population was organized, where one could get personal protection equipment in case of emergency. Considering the fact that storage premises with reserve supplies of PPE are outside St. Petersburg, in case a man-made disaster hazardous for city residents occurred, emergency stations for distribution of protective items would be organized on the basis of schools.

Answering a question on what equipment should be chosen if one smelled ammonia, for example, Yury Gorshkov advised to consider using a universal respirator or a filtering gas helmet labeled K1 if the concentration of a chemical substance in the air exceeded 5 LOC.

In his closing remarks, Valery Dolgopolov, President, NPO Association of NBC Protection, noted that despite imperfection of the current system for NBC protection of the population, experts were constantly working on analysis and update of the existing theoretical basis, regulatory legal acts, reserves of personal protection equipment. Specialists discuss urgent problems in the framework of various sessions, conferences and roundtable discussions, including ones as part of St. Petersburg International Health Forum, a specialized annual event that will take place on November 18–20, 2020, in the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Gazprombank (Joint Stock Company) served as a sponsor of the event.

Online broadcasting of the expert discussion is available on the website of the project.