We need to talk. Every year we use Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to talk about our love for respirators and personal protective equipment (PPE). We’ve had some good times frolicking through the standards and maintenance requirements. But today we need to address what happens when it’s just not working anymore. We have to discuss the end-of-service-life of your respirator’s cartridges or canisters.
End-of-service-life is when a respirator can no longer provide the expected level of protection to the user. Hey, we’ve all been there. Your filter medium is clogged. Breathing while wearing the respirator may have become difficult; or the sorbent, when protecting against gases or vapors, has reached its capacity and can no longer capture and retain harmful contaminants. Or, this may be when the respirator becomes damaged, soiled, or its integrity is no longer intact. You don’t have to put up with that. In fact, for the sake of your safety, you should never put up with that. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal agency in charge of setting and enforcing occupational safety and health standards,