Personal protection system

A personal protection unit (20) comprising:

• a support structure (28) for suspending a hood (144) over the head (24) of an individual;
• a fan (46) for circulating air;
• a motor (48) attached to the support structure (28), the motor (48) connected to the fan (46) for actuating the fan (46);
• and
• an elastomeric, vibration dampening member holds the motor (48) to the support structure (28).

A personal protection assembly (20) comprising:

• a hood (144) formed of flexible sterilizable material, a portion of which is filter material, and shaped to be worn over the head (24);
• a transparent face shield (146) attached to the hood (144);
• a support structure (28) for suspending the hood (144) over the head (24);
• a fan (46) attached to the support structure for circulating air through the hood;
• a plurality of individually removable layers (150) of sterile transparent material are disposed over the face shield (146).

A method of assembling a sterilized hood assembly having a transparent face shield (146), the method including the steps of:

• providing a hood (144) formed from sterilizable flexible material, a portion of the material being filter material;
• attaching a transparent face shield assembly to the hood, the shield assembly including a face shield (146);
• sterilizing the hood and face shield assembly using a sterilization process that does not adversely affect the filter material;
• the transparent shield assembly further includes a plurality of removable transparent layers (150) disposed over the face shield (146).