What are the Types of Respiratory Protection?
Required Use: How Do I Know if I Need Respiratory Protection?
Required Use: How do I Get a Respirator?
What if I don't NEED a Respirator but WANT to Wear One Anyway?
What are the Types of Respiratory Protection? Respiratory Protection comes in two basic types: Air Purifying Respirators (APRs) and Supplied-Air Respirators (SARs).
Air-purifying respirators (APRs) filter out, or "purify" the air before you inhale it. APRs can filter out particles (e.g. asbestos, silica, welding fume, lead-paint dust, mold spores, etc.) or chemicals (e.g. solvent vapors, ammonia gas, etc.). APRs cannot protect you if you are in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere (e.g. oxygen has been displaced by another gas such as carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide)!
APRs can be half-face elastomeric, full-face elastomeric (often called "gas masks"), or filtering facepieces (often called "dust masks").
Supplied-air respirators (SARs) actually provide you with a source of clean, fresh air. SARs are the only kind of respirator you can use in an oxygen-deficient environment. They are also necessary for some chemicals that can reach a deadly level with little advance warning, or some chemicals for which there just are not any filters that work well.
Most of us are familiar with one kind of SAR: the self-contained breathing apparatus, or "SCBA" worn by firefighters. Another kind of supplied air respirator is the kind you might see a sandblaster or vehicle painter wearing: the air comes from a big air cylinder through a long hose that hooks into the respirator.
Required Use: How Do I Know if I Need Respiratory Protection? Respirators are "required" when your exposure to a contaminant is higher than allowed by the North Carolina Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Division (NCOSHA).
If you need to find out whether your exposure might be over the allowed NCOSHA level, try your supervisor first. If he or she doesn't know, then contact the University Industrial Hygienist for an evaluation.
If you work on certain kinds of asbestos-containing materials or lead-based paint, respirators are usually required.
Required Use: I am Required to Wear a Respirator -- Now What? If you are required to wear a respirator, you must join the University Respiratory Protection Program. This means that you will:
· Have an initial medical evaluation by an ASU-approved medical professional. Your department will bear the cost and you do not have to use leave time. [Follow-up medical evaluations are rarely needed. The medical provider makes this decision at your initial visit. There are only a few situations where OSHA requires annual medical evaluations, and these do not typically apply to ASU employees.]
· Participate in initial and annual respirator training. The cost, if any, is typically minimal and is paid by your department. You do not have to use leave to attend.
· Participate in initial and annual respiratory fit-testing. The cost, if any, is typically minimal and is paid for your department. You do not have to use leave to attend. Whenever possible, the fit-testing is held within the same week as the training.
To join the Respiratory Protection Program, here are the steps that you and your Shop/Area Supervisor or Department Chair will need to complete together:
1. Contact the
University Industrial Hygienist to find out what kind of respirator and what kind of medical evaluation ("general" or "asbestos") you will need.
2. Print out a copy of this form and complete it with help from the
University Industrial Hygienist.
3. Contact the Workers' Compensation Administrator to have her send you the necessary medical forms and make an appointment with the medical provider. Please make sure you are prepared to tell her: (A) whether your medical evaluation is for "general" or "asbestos" respirator use, and (B) any dates you will not be available for a medical in the next 4 weeks.
4. Fill out the medical questionnaire and any other forms that the Workers' Compensation Administrator sends you. You must be allowed to do this during your normal working hours and no one is allowed to look at your answers. Do not give a copy to anyone at ASU; these are between you and the medical provider only!
5. Go to the medical evaluation that the Workers' Compensation Administrator schedules for you. Be sure to bring all the forms!
6. When you are done, the medical provider will send the Workers' Compensation Administrator a letter stating only the extent to which you are medically able to wear a respirator or not. By law, no one at ASU receives any information about your medical questionnaire or what you discussed with the medical provider.
7. Within a few weeks, you should receive notification from someone in the Safety & Workers' Compensation Office on whether you are medically able to wear a respirator. If you do not receive notice within a reasonable amount of time, please contact the Workers' Compensation Administrator.
8. Once you are approved to wear a respirator, check the University Calendar (link at top right of the ASU Homepage) to find out the next date and time respiratory training and fit-testing are scheduled. If no training/fit-testing is scheduled within a time frame that allows you to do your work, please contact the University Industrial Hygienist to schedule an individual session.
Voluntary Use: What if I Don't Need a Respirator but Want to Wear One Anyway? If you are not required to wear a respirator, but want to wear one anyway, OSHA calls this "voluntary use."
If you want to "voluntarily" use a filtering facepiece respirator (often incorrectly called a "dust mask"), then you need to simply:
· Read and sign this form (pdf); and
· Send the signed form to the University Industrial Hygienist.
Contacts:
University Industrial Hygienist: Mary M. Cavanaugh CIH. Campus Mail Address: IH Office, JET Bldg. Email cavanaughmm@appstate.edu. Phone 828-262-6838
Workers' Compensation Administrator: Wanda Yates. Campus Mail Address: Safety & WC Office, Bus Aff Annex. Email yateswk@appstate.edu. Phone 828-262-4008 ext 0#.
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(Updated: February 4, 2008)
