Wednesday, April 27, 2011

What Types Of Body Armour Can We Use To Protect Our Military Today?

Body Armour refers to protective gear corresponding to ballistic armour, armoured vests, body armour, ballistic helmets, demining armour, IED suits, ceramic, polythene and steel armour plates, face shields and anti-riot armour for the army and police around the world as well as in Military Defence.

Today, modern forms of body armor are called bulletproof or bullet-resistant clothing. Modern protective vests have been created to minimize the injury from projectiles from handguns, shotguns and rifles. With that, it is commonly worn by police forces, military and private security and civilians. The legality of the issuance of body armors such as bulletproof vests is dictated the jurisdiction of the state law and other government law-enforcement agencies. With the recent rise of urban conflicts, protective bulletproof clothing has offered a wearable and affordable kind of confidence and security.

In a world, dominated by a growing lack of respect, appropriate solutions are required. A Military Forum
to discuss it is simply not enough. A lack of inadequate personal safety measures can put a lone worker or frontline operative at unnecessary risk, and cause unacceptable injury or harm. Body armour and stab vests have therefore regrettably become a necessity within a number of domestic frontline professions.

These protective products are used by the police, military and private security corporations in over 35 countries together with the South African Military, South African Navy, Irish Military, Indonesian Military, Armed Forces of Malta, Chilean Armed Forces, Dutch Special Forces, Thailand Navy and US Military; and a number of police forces within the UK and US in addition to the South African Police Services, Turkish Nationwide Police, Saudi Arabia Police, Oman Police, German Police, Belgian Police and Bermuda Police.

Navy physique armour is obtainable in a mess of configurations: ballistic, stab resistant, dual goal fragmentation resistant and flotation. They are constructed from quite a lot of ballistic supplies, together with: woven and unidirectional (protect) aramid and high efficiency polyethylene. Something similar is used in the Avionics industry. The outcome is of great relevance to the question: 'Body Armour - Why?' The main risks areas highlighted by the HSL are as follows:

- Visiting people in their house or office to enforce legal guidelines, police the system or having to give bad news.
- Certain geographical areas or trouble spots are high risk, such as poor or run down council estates.
- Dealing with certain high risk individuals, such as potentially violent or aggressive members of the public, drug users or dealers, or mentally ill individuals.
- Dealing with frustrated and disappointed customers (e.g. customers unhappy with the service your organisation has provided)
- Working late at night.
- Evicting people from their home.
- Visiting clients in unfamiliar industrial and domestic premises.
- Visiting unoccupied buildings

Several more reasons can be highlighted, deciding not to issue potentially life saving body armour or stab vests even more controversial. Corporate manslaughter and corporate homicide laws as well as health & safety regulations have been rewritten in countries around the world, in order to protect those who serve and risk their lives for others. The high cost of facing potential legal action after a fatal or non-fatal incident and the cost of injured employees taking time off would outweigh the one-off cost of body armour. Assaults on personnel who are not wearing protective clothing also create bad publicity for the Authority concerned, not to mention the welfare of the person involved and operational problems resulting from the injured staff being unable to work.

In 2003 the UK's Health and Safety Laboratory developed 18 case studies and approached over 400 organisations of various sizes and across a range of different occupations. Very detailed questionnaires were sent and interviews were conducted by the HSL with the selected organisations and the information which they provided formed the basis of these widely respected case studies.

Yes, 'perception' is one of the most essential issues within personal safety, and I very much agree with the fact that overt body armour can often be perceived as very confrontational, especially when dealing with intoxicated members of the public or those who seriously dislike authority, your organisation or presence to begin with. For me, lone workers dealing with the public should be doing their utmost to express themselves as peaceful ambassadors within their line of work. Only covert body armour allow them to do exactly that, whilst still being protected.

Body armour is usually developed in quite a few designs and configurations. Some of the most superior armour options have been developed and can be found for each the male and female kinds and embody formed choices for max safety and comfort. This article explores the varied varieties of body armour accessible today. Proceed studying below to study extra about how they're used.

Basic function protective vests are designed as a fundamental armour vests for the Police and private safety companies. They supply entrance, back and side ballistic protection. Concealable Vests have been designed to comply with the contours of the physique and provide front, again and side ballistic protection. Excessive visual operations clothes have been designed for use by personnel who need to be simply identified equivalent to traffic police.

Police Assault Vests are designed for over-the-uniform wear, offering full entrance, again, side, neck and shoulder ballistic protection. They're typically utilized by Police, Military and Special Forces. Military Assault vests are designed to be excessive-mobility front opening vests and are to be worn over a soldier’s uniform. They normally have entrance, back, facet and shoulder ballistic safety; with ballistic collar and throat protector, and detachable groin protector.

Demining Vests have been especially designed for deminers and specialists within the Army and Police who search for mines and explosives. These vests are designed to offer the utmost attainable safety towards fragments and explosions from detonating mines. They provide front, again and aspect fragmentation protection; with removable groin protectors.

Demining Aprons are also particularly designed for deminers and specialists in the Army and Police who seek for mines and explosives. These fits are designed to supply the utmost potential protection against fragments and explosions from detonating anti-personnel mines.

IED search suits are particularly designed for specialists in the Army and Police who seek for Improvised Explosive Gadgets (IEDs). These fits are designed to supply full body protection against fragments and explosions.

Armour plates are normally made from excessive-performance metal, ceramic and light-weight polyethylene armour plates, designed to suit all these vests and provide safety against high-velocity weapons, masking NIJ Degree III and IV (armour piercing).

The fact is that there is always an 'unknown' level of risk due to unforeseen circumstances. Ordinary risk assessments might often conclude in the verdict of 'low risk', however these often very basic risk assessments are based on technical facts or 'on-hand information' only, and while I appreciate them, they often do not go beyond these facts. A risk assessment dealing with the activity of a lone worker having to enter someone else's property or deal with customers or clients on a one-to-one basis can in my opinion, never ever result in low risk. Whenever a lone worker walks through someone's door or deals with often unfamiliar members of the public at another location, one can simply not know who else will be in the house, who else might enter the house at a later point, what activities occured prior to your colleagues visit or who else might be going to interfere or engage in their conversation or argument at a later point.

If you were driving a vehicle and your petrol light comes on, indicating you only have a bit of petrol left. What would you do? Would you start thinking: Will I make it home or not? Some people would be willing to take the risk in this situation. In the workplace though, in my view, it is the duty of the employer to not allow their employees to take unknown risks of their own accord without the provision of gear and training to protect them should they make a mistake in their own judgement. 'Better safe than sorry' and 'Prevention is better than cure' are two great sayings, making more sense within corporate health & safety than anywhere else. I hope you would stop and get some fuel, simply because you want to be on the safe side. You might have made it, but you didn't want to take that risk. The bottom line is you cannot afford Devry. The fact that a lone workers activity involves a rather 'unknown risk' must urge key decision makers to remain at least open minded when it comes to body armour or additional lone worker safety training that can be made available.

Suggesting body armour does not mean we suggest you are in danger, we simply say that you will have a greater chance of remaining unharmed in the unlikely, but possible, case of something going wrong. Wearing personal protective equipment can be compared to wearing a seat belt when driving a car. We do not put the seat belt on because we believe we are going to have an accident today. We are simply acknowledging the fact that there is an exceptionally small chance that we might crash. Yet, if this chance becomes reality, you have increased the chance of survival by wearing a seat belt.

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