What a safety expert thinks journalists should know about "less than lethal" rounds and chemical irritants used by ICE

"On January 18, a photograph of a pair of safety goggles in a hardware store floated across my Instagram timeline. "#JOURNALISTS covering #iceprotest in #Minneapolis: Less lethal projectiles move 400-600 feet per second. Z87.1 glasses no longer provide the protection required," read the caption. The post came from Crisis Ready Media and was shared by the National Press Photographers' Association (NPPA)."

"To find out, I called up Bryan Woolston, who co-founded Crisis Ready Media with Chris Post in 2023. Before they became journalists, both spent years working in crisis situations: Woolston spent 20 years in the military, including a nearly nine-year stint on the army's bomb disposal squad, while Post had worked in emergency response for about two decades and led firefighting operations at McMurdo Station in Antarctica."

"Now Woolston is a photojournalist, while Post primarily works in video; they met in 2015 while covering protests in Baltimore after the killing of Freddie Gray. They founded Crisis Ready Media, a nonprofit, to bring hostile environment training to journalism schools and smaller publications, and partner with other journalism support organizations - like the NPPA or the Committee to Protect Journalists - to spread awareness of how journalists can stay safe in conflicts both domestic and international."

A photograph claiming that Z87.1 safety glasses do not protect against 400–600 feet-per-second less-lethal projectiles circulated on Instagram and was shared by the NPPA. A Minneapolis Star Tribune story detailed different chemical irritants used by federal agents. Questions arose about how specific details such as projectile speed and irritant types were identified. Bryan Woolston and Chris Post co-founded Crisis Ready Media in 2023 to provide hostile-environment training for journalists and smaller publications. Woolston spent two decades in the military including nearly nine years on an army bomb disposal squad; Post has two decades in emergency response and firefighting leadership in Antarctica. Crisis Ready Media partners with journalism support organizations to improve journalist safety.

Read at Nieman Lab