Watch your back

[NREMT-Basic]

I agree completely that ems personnel in high risk areas should be allowed to wear their own body armor if it is not provided by your service. The only thing that I would add (and this gets into classes of armor) is to make sure that you purchase or are furnished with armor which is not only ballistic proof but sharp proof. As someone who wears armor under my uniform, I made sure that what I purchased was designed to repel both ballistics and sharps. The problem with alot of personal armor is that yes, it will stop a bullet and may do so even at a close range (if you dont mind broken ribs) but that same armor may be useless against someone with an icepick, the point of which is narrow and thin enough to find its way between the fibers of the kevlar and directly into your soft and mushy parts. I had no idea this was the case until I bought my armor and was advised by my now retired veteran police officer father to get armor that also stopped sharps. One question I would ask is how many of us that wear armor wear it under the shirt and how many over. I have read numerous studies that departments who have officers wear armor over their uniforms have a higher incidents of officers finding themselves in need of that armor. It can often act like a "shoot me" sign.

Stay safe and keep you heads down.

[FL_Medic]

I agree completely that ems personnel in high risk areas should be allowed to wear their own body armor if it is not provided by your service. The only thing that I would add (and this gets into classes of armor) is to make sure that you purchase or are furnished with armor which is not only ballistic proof but sharp proof. As someone who wears armor under my uniform, I made sure that what I purchased was designed to repel both ballistics and sharps. The problem with alot of personal armor is that yes, it will stop a bullet and may do so even at a close range (if you dont mind broken ribs) but that same armor may be useless against someone with an icepick, the point of which is narrow and thin enough to find its way between the fibers of the kevlar and directly into your soft and mushy parts. I had no idea this was the case until I bought my armor and was advised by my now retired veteran police officer father to get armor that also stopped sharps. One question I would ask is how many of us that wear armor wear it under the shirt and how many over. I have read numerous studies that departments who have officers wear armor over their uniforms have a higher incidents of officers finding themselves in need of that armor. It can often act like a "shoot me" sign.

Stay safe and keep you heads down.

Stopping sharps would be a good thing concidering the possibility of getting stuck with an IV Needle as well.

[weasel 108]

I unfortunatly do not have nor am I issued body armor where I work. Our current chief is looking into purchasing vest for us. I know several years ago we had asked our (now x deputy chief )if they were going to look into getting us body armor,and his reply (i'm not making this up) was " if you are worried about safety,go work somewhere else". We thought he was kidding,but apparently he was not.

[MedicDude]

From what I've been reading, if you want protection from ballistics AND sharp objects, you want a vest made from SPECTRA. This is made by Honeywell, I believe, and is used in prison guards' stab vests. Further improvements have made spectra vests good against ballistic threats as well... I think you can get spectra up to Level III, but check with the manufacturer. SPECTRA stays together better when wet, and is stronger than Kevlar. Does anyone know which companies use spectra in their vests?