Beards FITS Testing (674A/23)
Request
Are front line, operational officers, permitted to wear a beard?
Are front line, operational officers, permitted to wear facial hair of any length?
Does your force have any policy regulating the wearing of facial hair?
Are front line, operational officers, required to wear Respiratory Protective Equipment, specifically FFP3 masks in certain circumstances?
If yes, what are those circumstances?
Do you require front line, operational officers, to be clean shaven when wearing FFP3 masks?
Do you require front line, operational officers to wear FFP3 masks in any of the following scenarios?
– Dealing with persons known to be positive for COVID-19
– Exposure to blood borne pathogens (via cuts and abrasions in skin); this includes dealing with victims of fatal RTCs
– Dealing with or examining vehicles where the air bag has been deployed or other man-made fibres such as carbon fibre or similar has been damaged
– Attendance at ongoing vehicle fires or attendance at / examination of any vehicle that has previously been fire damaged / burnt out
– Attendance at fires in general
– Testing of drugs
Response
Please find enclosed our response.
Q1. Are front line, operational officers, permitted to wear a beard?
Q2. Are front line, operational officers, permitted to wear facial hair of any length?
Q3. Does your force have any policy regulating the wearing of facial hair?
For all of the questions above:
Under section 21 of the Act, we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you. The information you requested is available on the following website.
Uniform-and-Equipment-v1.5.pdf (west-midlands.police.uk)
Q4. Are front line, operational officers, required to wear Respiratory Protective Equipment, specifically FFP3 masks in certain circumstances?
Not required to but they can if they want to, only if they have been fitted.
Not all officers have them. These masks were offered and fitted during covid times. Now that West Midlands Police have gone back to normal they are no longer being fitted or supplied.
Q5. If yes, what are those circumstances?
N/A
Q6. Do you require front line, operational officers, to be clean shaven when wearing FFP3 masks?
We do not ask front line officers to routinely wear them and they would have to have been fitted.
However, the mask does not create a sufficient seal to be effective if officers are not clean shaved.
Q7. Do you require front line, operational officers to wear FFP3 masks in any of the following scenarios?
– Dealing with persons known to be positive for COVID-19
No
– Exposure to blood borne pathogens (via cuts and abrasions in skin); this includes dealing with victims of fatal RTCs
No
– Dealing with or examining vehicles where the air bag has been deployed or other man-made fibres such as carbon fibre or similar has been damaged
No
– Attendance at ongoing vehicle fires or attendance at / examination of any vehicle that has previously been fire damaged / burnt out
no
– Attendance at fires in general
no
– Testing of drugs
no
Q8. Did you ever require officers to wear FFP3 masks, for instance during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Yes
Q9. If yes, were officers required to be clean shaven when wearing said masks?
The mask does not create a sufficient seal to be effective if officers are not clean shaved
Attachments
Include attachments here