WASHINGTON — A federal laboratory in South Park that has researched personal protective equipment and workplace safety technology is poised to renovate and expand its facilities with a $14 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The grant, announced by federal officials Monday, comes as the laboratory has been on the forefront of developing a new kind of respirator that could ease demand and cost pressures on N95 masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
These enhancements will support the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory’s respirator certification program, its Human Performance and Physiology Research Branch, and the development of new PPE technologies.
“The important role of PPE in providing potentially life-saving protection to workers has never been clearer,” said John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, an arm of the DHHS that is tasked with research, quality control and making recommendations.
“This is an important step forward in improving the safety of health care workers, first responders and all workers who rely on these technologies to remain safe and healthy while on the job,” Dr. Howard said.
The lab has been working on demonstrating all the benefits of deploying the reusable respirators, which are bulkier and have typically been used in industrial workplaces, in health care settings.
A few years ago, a study sponsored by the lab recommended the respirators, called elastomeric masks, for front-line health care workers — pointing to past global health emergencies that strained supplies of the disposable N95 surgical masks.
During the pandemic, the lab launched a partnership with Allegheny Health Network and Cranberry-based manufactuer MSA Safety to study the masks.
The lab’s facilities have needed renovations since they were transferred to DHHS from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, the energy research center located nearby.
Last July, Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, wrote a letter with Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, and Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters, asking the department to commit funding for capital improvements there.
Such funding would be used to finalize research and office space for NPPTL personnel,” the lawmakers wrote. “These researchers, and the quality of their work, would surely benefit and help keep Americans safe during this challenging time.”
In Monday’s news release, the department said the lab will begin developing design plans for the renovation in fall 2021 and aims to begin construction in summer 2022. Occupancy of the new lab space is anticipated for late fall 2023.
“The consolidation of NPPTL’s Pittsburgh facilities into an upgraded space will improve our ability to foster further innovation in our work on personal protective equipment and technologies,” said Maryann D’Alessandro, the lab’s director.
“These enhancements will improve the overall work environment and facilitate innovation to further improve protective technologies in the future,” she stated.
Daniel Moore: dmoore@post-gazette.com, Twitter @PGdanielmoore
First Published: March 30, 2021, 3:50 p.m.