National
Drinking Water Clearinghouse
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6064
Morgantown, WV
26506-6064
Saftey
Tips
Respiratory Protection
Getting the Right Respiratory Protection
Types of Respirators
Respirator Responsibilities
Respirator Do’s and Don’ts
Where can I go for help?
by Jamie Knotts
Assistant Editor
“The law requires that these controls (engineering
and administrative) be considered before employees are issued respirators.
If engineering and administrative controls are not feasible or will not provide
adequate protection, respirators can then be assigned.”
Airborne hazards are a fact of life in many drinking water
plants. Various chemicals used for treating water can emit noxious and sometimes
dangerous vapors and dust particles that can harm or even kill operators.
Since 1972, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has inspected
more than 5,100 drinking water systems. Between October 1998 and September
1999 inspectors issued 506 citations for health and safety violations. Of
those, the most cited violation was for poor respiratory protection practices
in the water utilities they inspected. The law requires employers to provide
respiratory protection to employees who are exposed to concentrations of potentially
harmful substances exceeding established Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs).
The point of the law is not to simply force more regulations on utilities
but to prevent deaths and illnesses among respirator-wearing employees by
protecting them from exposure to acute and chronic health hazards.
Dusts, fumes, gases or vapors, and temperature extremes can penetrate and
damage the respiratory system. Dust and fumes can irritate the nose and throat,
and in some cases, the lungs. Gases and vapors can be absorbed from the lungs
into the bloodstream, where they have the potential to damage the brain and
internal organs. Very hot or cold air can damage the fine tissues in your
mouth and airway, and interfere with normal breathing.
Getting the Right Protection
There are several ways to protect against exposure to airborne contaminants.
Usually, engineering and administrative controls provide sufficient protection.
Engineering controls include such things as increasing ventilation or installing
a fume hood; administrative controls involve changes in work procedures that
lesson or eliminate exposure or substituting non-hazardous materials for the
materials that pose respiratory hazards. The law requires that managers consider
these controls before issuing employees respirators. If engineering and administrative
controls are not feasible or will not provide adequate protection, respirators
can then be assigned.
According to OSHA, respirators should only be used as part of a complete written
respirator program run by a “respirator program administrator.”
A respirator program includes:
• Evaluating exposures in the workplace to determine their nature and
concentration (an industrial hygienist usually performs this);
• Conducting a medical evaluation of employees who must use respirators;
• Selecting the appropriate respirator based upon
air measurements and the exposure limit for each contaminant;
• Training employees to use the respirator properly;
• Fit testing. It is important that respirators fit the users’ face
without excessive leakage around the face seal. Each user needs to use an
adequately fitting respirator and make sure the best possible face seal is
achieved each time it is worn;
• Properly maintaining, cleaning, and storing respirators.
Types of Respirators
There are two major respirator types: 1) Air-purifying and 2) Atmosphere-supplying.
Air-purifying respirators remove contaminants from the air. These work
by screening out or trapping contaminants in filter cartridges. They may be
disposable or have a reusable face piece that allows filters or cartridges
to be replaced. (The mask shown on page one of this Safety Tip is an air-purifying
respirator.)
Atmosphere-supplying respirators provide clean air from an uncontaminated
source. They may be either a self-contained unit, such as a portable air tank
that is carried, or they may use an air line attached to a user’s hood
or mask and an outside air tank.
Respirator Responsibilities
Both the employee and the employee’s supervisor have legal responsibilities
to ensure that respirators are used properly.
The employee
• Returns for annual refitting.
• Uses the respirator only for the assigned hazard and cleans and maintains
the respirator as trained.
• Notifies supervisor of any new or changed workplace hazard.
The employee’s supervisor
• Identifies employees who may need respiratory protection.
• Ensures employee is in the Respiratory Protection Program and is properly
using, storing, cleaning, and maintaining his or her respirator.
• Periodically discusses proper respirator use during safety briefings.
Respirator Do’s and Don’ts
• Engineering and administrative controls are always preferable to using
a respirator. Respirators should only be considered if no other solutions
are viable, since the possibility for human error makes the respirator less
reliable than the other controls.
• Do not rely on the employee’s ability to sense the odor of a substance.
Some chemicals have odors that are only detectable above their established
exposure limits, meaning the employees will smell the chemical only after
they have already been exposed to unsafe levels of the contaminant.
• Do not buy or use a respirator without making sure it is made to protect
the user against the contaminants likely faced in the work environment. Respirators
are designed to protect against different hazards. Never assume a respirator
can handle all contaminants.
• Do not mix brands of respirators and cartridges since parts are not
interchangeable.
• Men must be clean-shaven to wear a respirator properly. Most respirators
will not provide the necessary tight seal over a beard.
• Never borrow or lend a respirator. If used according to manufacturer
recommendations, each respirator should be specifically fitted to the person
designated to wear it. An ill-fitting respirator is dangerous.
• Do not wear a respirator into a situation that has not been designated
for the cartridge you are using. Different environments may require a change
in assigned cartridges or respirators. No one cartridge respirator is good
for all situations.
• There is no required replacement schedule for respirators in general.
However, damaged respirators cannot properly protect employees. Respirators
need to be replaced or repaired when one or more of their components is missing,
damaged, or visibly deteriorated.
Where can I go for help?
Consider these sources for more information about respiratory protection:
NIOSH Respirator Decision Logic. National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health. Request DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 87-108. NIOSH also has a
help line. The telephone number is (800) 35-NIOSH.
Respirator manufacturers provide advice through product literature, sales
staff, and telephone help lines. The Industrial Safety Equipment Association
has contact information and may be reached at: 1901 N. Moore Street, Suite
808, Arlington VA. 22209, or (703) 525-1695, or www.safetycentral.org/isea.
Chemical manufacturers may provide information about the substances to which
your employees may be exposed. You should be able to obtain information from
the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) the chemical supplier provides.
Contact the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH),
6500 Glenway Ave., Bldg. D-7, Cincinnati, OH, 45211-4438 for advice and information
about exposure measurement and estimation and other related industrial hygiene
subjects.
You may also contact the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), 2700
Prosperity Ave., Suite 250, Fairfax, VA, 22031 for advice and information
about exposure measurement and estimation.
The National Library of Medicine provides free online help about chemical
hazards. Through TOXNET, located at toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/servlets/simplesearch,
you can search a number of databases on toxicology, hazardous chemicals and
other related subjects for information on respiratory hazards.
References:
Small Entity Compliance Guide for the Revised Respiratory Protection Standard,
1998. U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA)
Respiratory Protection Standard: Training and Reference Materials Page, OSHA,
www.osha-slc.gov/html/respirator.html
“Respiratory Protection Fact Sheet,” 2000. The Office of Environment,
Health and Safety. University of California at Berkeley