ALLEGRO HOODS EXCEL IN THIRD PARTY TEST AT U.S. ARMY'S EDGEWOOD CHEMICAL BIOLOGICAL CENTER

Allegro Industries contracted the US Army's ECBC (Edgewood Chemical Biological Center) to perform a third party test using a protocol similar to the one used on a limited number of styles in the 1996 study. The protocol had to be slightly modified to adapt to the procedures used by the ECBC (Research Development and Engineering Command) testing facility, which is where the actual testing took place.

The goal of this test was to certify and record actual simulated workplace protection factors (SWPF) of the Allegro Hoods and to compare the results of these tests to those hoods tested in the 1996 ORC Study. The test results show that the Allegro hoods do perform at least equal to those that now have an OSHA variance of APF (Assigned Protection Factor) 1000 as a result of the ORC Study.

Allegro's objective for the Protection Factor test was to determine the efficiency of the Allegro Supplied Air Hood (SAH) in protecting the wearer from aerosolized chemical and airborne biological particles. The tests conducted at ECBC incorporated the use of fifteen (15) civilian test subjects. Each test subject was submitted to twelve two-minute-long exercises. The exercises used were derived from the 1996 ORC Study and were chosen because of their similarity to everyday tasks performed in the pharmaceutical manufacturing environment. All subjects were tested twice in each hood configuration in the aerosolized ECBC Test Chamber.

The sophisticated equipment ECBC used to record the results during the test offered 1200 data points for each exercise. The state-of-the-art facility is capable of detecting fit factors up to 100,000. An analysis of the test results indicate that, at the 5th percentile, AllegroÕs hoods tested to a fit factor of the maximum of 100,000.