Respiratory Protection

Background: The employer has truck drivers that drive in and out of oil/gas refineries. Drivers are provided with a North 7900 series air-purifying disposable mouthpiece type respirator for use as an escape-only respirator. The owner’s manual to the North 7900 Series disposable mouthpiece type escape respirator warns employers to be aware of any physical limitations or…...

For those of you who are SAFTENG members and manage a Respiratory Protection program, this is NOT news to you, as we have discussed this many times before, and if you have been to my 1.5 Day Respiratory Protection Administrator course, you got this beat into your head!  But for those less fortunate, here is…...

Question 1: If an employer pays for and allows respirators to be worn on a voluntary basis when respiratory protection is not required to meet any OSHA standard, is it then regarded as though the employer is mandating the use of the respirators?… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready...

Nov 02, 2018 MEMORANDUM FOR: REGIONAL ADMINISTRATORS FROM: KIMBERLY STILLE, Acting Director Directorate of Enforcement Programs SUBJECT:  Enforcement Policy for Respiratory Hazards Not Covered by OSHA Permissible Exposure Limits As you are aware, Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) is occasionally used to cite respiratory hazards from exposure to an air contaminant…...

OSHA recently posted a Letter of Interpretation where they reference their Compliance Directive, Inspection Procedures for the Respiratory Protection Standard, CPL 02-00-158, and the standard’s preamble in establishing the medical evaluations for “voluntary use” of negative pressure (tight-fitting) respirators.  This issue has been made clear in the CPL for years, but I thought I would share the LOI…...

Breathing… we do it all day long, every day, and yet we never even put a thought to it.  But so many respirator users do not understand the basics of how we get the air (more importantly, the oxygen in the air) into our lungs so that it can enter our bloodstream for survival.  As…...

Step 1: If your only respirator use is for escape, skip to Step 8 to select the appropriate respirator.   Step 2: If the respiratory hazard is a biological aerosol, such as TB (tuberculosis), anthrax, psittacosis (parrot fever), or hanta virus, select a respirator appropriate for non-emergency activities recognized to present a health risk to…...

In OSHA’s fiscal year 2018 the agency performed 1,154 Respiratory Protection Inspections, resulting in 2,599 citations worth $3,228,420.  The top 5 industries accounted for 176 of these inspections, 460 citations, and $377,748 in penalties. Total for all industries and the Top 5 industries shown in the table below. Also, below is a breakdown of all 2018…...

Nov 02, 2018 MEMORANDUM FOR: REGIONAL ADMINISTRATORS FROM:  KIMBERLY STILLE, Acting Director Directorate of Enforcement Programs SUBJECT: Enforcement Policy for Respiratory Hazards Not Covered by OSHA Permissible Exposure Limits As you are aware, Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) is occasionally used to cite respiratory hazards from exposure to an air contaminant that is…...

Many program administrators already know that OSHA does not require that medical evaluations be done annually, and many companies take full advantage of this. But all too often, we come across employees wearing respirators that were never medically evaluated and cleared by the PLHCP to wear in the workplace. Here is how this happens…… Membership...