Sadly, it is broken.
Hence why Voeld is the most annoying enivronmental zone of them all, as the Vault does not fix the hazard as it is supposed to, the vault itself is the only one with hazards (Level 2 makes fighting that Destroyer a pita) and the complete uselessness of said consumable.
But fyi a community 'fix' from the EA forums:
'1. take your gun out
2. go to favorites wheel (god this thing is stupid, I didn't even know this existed for the first 20 hours lol)
3. while you're taking damage, use the consumable
4. this plays a little "applied" effect for a second
5. your life support now deteriorates at a lower amount for 15-30? seconds
Incidentally, it also recharges (like if you're on the cold planet and stand next to a space heater) slower too, for some stupid reason.
As such, there is really zero reason to ever use it because
1. it does not last long enough to be useful (such as to go pick up an item that's just out of reach you can't get to because of the life support damage)
2. there is nothing worth using it on (because it doesn't reduce it by much, maybe 20% life support damage reduction?) since you can just ignore those zones with high life support damage and do some main quests and come back to a planet with no life support damage at all.'
Best way: Ignore it, learn the map and plan your tours accordingly to minimize exposure to hazardous environments.