Respirators had been used by employees in about 10 percent of the private industry workplaces surveyed in late 2001. In nearly half of these 619,400 establishments where respirators were used, they were used by employees on a voluntary basis only, and, in about 12 percent, they were used only when required because of emergencies. These data are from a special survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 90 percent of the establishments that reported required respirator use, employees had used respirators in the 12-month period prior to completing the survey. More detailed information was collected from these establishments with fairly recent respirator use. A total of 3.3 million employees, or about 3 percent of all private-sector employees, were included in this group.