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Even when respirator use is not required in certain situations, OSHA  and State OSHA agencies require employers to meet certain obligations for workers who voluntarily wear respirators on the job. Most workers who wear respirators use them because they are required to do so by their employer to protect them from airborne hazards.

A recent report published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (JOEH) found respirable crystalline silica, a human lung carcinogen, to be an occupational exposure hazard for oil and gas extraction workers. The study is the first systematic investigation of worker exposure to crystalline silica during directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing, a process used to stimulate well production in the oil and gas industry.

Around 2,000 people who have worked at Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant face a heightened risk of thyroid cancer, its operator in recent news reports.

The Total Worker Health™ (TWH) strategy developed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is a concept being embraced in many countries, as NIOSH Director Dr. John Howard found at a recent conference.

Each day millions of workers in the United States use National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) certified respirators to reduce exposure to harmful gases, vapors, and particulate hazards. NIOSH has certification, quality assurance, and auditing procedures in place (42 CFR Part 84) that assure purchasers and users that the products they are buying/using have been tested and manufactured to strict standards.

Frustrated by rulemaking foot-dragging on the part of the Obama administration, West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller has introduced a bill that would impose a deadline on the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for finalizing a proposal to reduce respirable dust limits in mines.

OSHA has issued notices to the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Test Center regarding alleged violations of commercial diving safety standards at its facility in Aberdeen.

Part A. Personal protective equipment is divided into four categories based on the degree of protection afforded. (See Part B of this appendix for further explanation of Levels A, B, C, and D hazards.) I. Level A - To be selected when the greatest level of skin, respiratory, and eye protection is required. The following constitute Level A equipment:

OSHA, along with trade associations and employers throughout Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, conducted a one-hour safety stand-down at construction sites and workplaces today from 7 to 8 a.m.