From an OSHA Letter of Interpretation:
Scenario: An employee is dry cutting concrete in an outdoor, well-ventilated environment that creates a small amount of dust that never approaches the permissible exposure limit (PEL), and the supervisor advises the employee to put a dust mask on.
Question: Does a supervisor advising an employee to put on a dust mask constitute non-voluntary (required) use even though the generated dust amount is below the PEL?
Reply: Respiratory protection is required when such equipment is necessary to protect the health of the employee or whenever respirators are required by the employer.
OSHA has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to add two quantitative fit-testing protocols to the agency's Respiratory Protection Standard. The protocols would apply to employers in the general, shipyard and construction industries.
Appendix A of the standard contains mandatory respirator fit-testing methods that employers must use to ensure their employees' respirators fit properly and protect the wearer.
Air-purifying respirators are many types of negative-pressure respirators which include chemical media and mechanical filters. Positive pressure respirators include powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs). Air-Purifying escape respirators (APER) are used by the general public for radiological, biological, chemical and nuclear (CBRN) terrorism incidents.
In the world of safety lies a plethora of devices and gadgets that offer unique capabilities with the aim of protecting end-users. While these devices can maximize one’s protection, safety goes beyond simply donning a device.
An estimated 5 million workers are required to wear respirators in 1.3 million workplaces throughout the United States. The general industry standard protects the health of employees from harmful dusts, fogs, fumes, mists, gases, smokes, sprays, and vapors.
Z88.2 is a new standard that sets the pace for the respirator program for the next decade. The 2015 version incorporates regulatory and national standards changes that have occurred during the past 23 years.
In healthcare, workers wear filtering facepiece respirators as protection against inhaling infectious particles such as viruses and bacteria, but safe use does not end with putting on, or donning, the respirator.
A new study from Women's Voices for the Earth (WVE) on the health impacts of exposure to salon chemicals on the (mostly) women who work in personal care salons is the first of its kind. The study, Beauty and Its Beast: Unlocking the Impact of Toxic Chemicals on Salon Workers, indicates long-term exposure to products routinely used in salons leads to an array of negative health conditions frequently suffered by beauticians and other salon workers.
OSHA has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to add two quantitative fit-testing protocols to the agency's Respiratory Protection Standard. The protocols would apply to employers in the general, shipyard and construction industries.
