Evolution of the personal protective equipment development on the example of domestic mountain rescue service in the late XIX early XX century

Abstract

The article analyzes the working conditions and the state of injuries in the coal industry of Ukraine. The main factors, which causes the extreme and emergency situations, as well as the nature of the injuries, which affects industry workers are shown. A retrospective review of the development of occupational safety and mine rescue work since the XVIII century on the territory of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine) is done. The role of prominent scientists in the study of mine gas and the development of measures to deal with it is shown. The information about the impact of Congresses of miners for the establishment and functioning of the rescue stations on the most dangerous mines is presented. The work of prominent Russian scientists of the early twentieth century, devoted to the analysis of detonating gas explosions and measures for their prevention, the promotion of the ideas on creating a rescue service, is analysed. The focus of the article is devoted to review of the evolution of domestic personal respiratory protection, during the period since the end of XIX and the beginning of XX centuries, including the development of the Navy. The little-known facts about the construction and testing of a unique rescue unit closed breathing cycle engineer Levitskyi, «animating apparatus Makeyevka», whose characteristics are significantly ahead of foreign analogs, are presented. The importance of the model for improving domestic and foreign equipment of salvation and protection is shown. It is very important to continue studying these materials in order to provide the priority of domestic developments in the area of personal protection equipment used in industry and rescue services.