The employer may discontinue an employee's medical evaluations when the employee is no longer required to use a respirator. The medical questionnaire shall be administered in a manner that ensures that the employee understands its content. In determining the employee's ability to use a respirator, the employer shall:. The recommendation shall provide only the following information:. At a minimum, the employer shall provide additional medical evaluations that comply with the requirements of this section if:.
This paragraph requires that, before an employee may be required to use any respirator with a negative or positive pressure tight-fitting facepiece, the employee must be fit tested with the same make, model, style, and size of respirator that will be used. This paragraph specifies the kinds of fit tests allowed, the procedures for conducting them, and how the results of the fit tests must be used.
Such conditions include, but are not limited to, facial scarring, dental changes, cosmetic surgery, or an obvious change in body weight. This requirement shall be accomplished by installing a permanent sampling probe onto a surrogate facepiece, or by using a sampling adapter designed to temporarily provide a means of sampling air from inside the facepiece.
This paragraph requires employers to establish and implement procedures for the proper use of respirators. These requirements include prohibiting conditions that may result in facepiece seal leakage, preventing employees from removing respirators in hazardous environments, taking actions to ensure continued effective respirator operation throughout the work shift, and establishing procedures for the use of respirators in IDLH atmospheres or in interior structural firefighting situations.
When there is a change in work area conditions or degree of employee exposure or stress that may affect respirator effectiveness, the employer shall reevaluate the continued effectiveness of the respirator. For all IDLH atmospheres, the employer shall ensure that:. In addition to the requirements set forth under paragraph g 3 , in interior structural fires, the employer shall ensure that:.
Note 1 to paragraph g : One of the two individuals located outside the IDLH atmosphere may be assigned to an additional role, such as incident commander in charge of the emergency or safety officer, so long as this individual is able to perform assistance or rescue activities without jeopardizing the safety or health of any firefighter working at the incident.
Note 2 to paragraph g : Nothing in this section is meant to preclude firefighters from performing emergency rescue activities before an entire team has assembled. This paragraph requires the employer to provide for the cleaning and disinfecting, storage, inspection, and repair of respirators used by employees.
The employer shall provide each respirator user with a respirator that is clean, sanitary, and in good working order. The employer shall ensure that respirators are cleaned and disinfected using the procedures in Appendix B-2 of this section, or procedures recommended by the respirator manufacturer, provided that such procedures are of equivalent effectiveness.
The respirators shall be cleaned and disinfected at the following intervals:. The employer shall ensure that respirators are stored as follows:. The employer shall determine that the regulator and warning devices function properly. This information shall be maintained until replaced following a subsequent certification.
The employer shall ensure that respirators that fail an inspection or are otherwise found to be defective are removed from service, and are discarded or repaired or adjusted in accordance with the following procedures:. This paragraph requires the employer to provide employees using atmosphere-supplying respirators supplied-air and SCBA with breathing gases of high purity. F C at 1 atmosphere pressure. C below the ambient temperature;.
Sorbent beds and filters shall be maintained and replaced or refurbished periodically following the manufacturer's instructions. The tag shall be maintained at the compressor.
If only high-temperature alarms are used, the air supply shall be monitored at intervals sufficient to prevent carbon monoxide in the breathing air from exceeding 10 ppm.
No asphyxiating substance shall be introduced into breathing air lines. The employer shall ensure that all filters, cartridges and canisters used in the workplace are labeled and color coded with the NIOSH approval label and that the label is not removed and remains legible. This paragraph requires the employer to provide effective training to employees who are required to use respirators. The training must be comprehensive, understandable, and recur annually, and more often if necessary.
This paragraph also requires the employer to provide the basic information on respirators in Appendix D of this section to employees who wear respirators when not required by this section or by the employer to do so. Previous training not repeated initially by the employer must be provided no later than 12 months from the date of the previous training.
Caring for our Airmen and their families requires the knowledge and skills of thousands of individuals. Assisting doctors who diagnose and treat diseases of the heart and lungs, Respiratory Care Practitioners perform essential lab and clinical functions to help care for their patients. From managing ventilators to conducting blood tests, electrocardiograms, and ultrasounds, these highly trained professionals help prevent, monitor, and minimize heart and lung disease within the Air Force.
Some gaseous contaminants will migrate across the adsorbent or absorbent bed while the respirator is not in use, such as overnight.
This migration can subject the user to an initial dose of the contaminant when the respirator is again placed in service. Therefore, as a minimum, gas vapor cartridges and canisters should be disposed of after each day's activities no matter how short those activities were. Experience and professional judgment should be used along with existing information and data to establish cartridge or canister change schedules.
Filter cartridges should be replaced when the breathing resistance becomes great enough to cause discomfort to the wearer overloaded or when the cartridge suffers physical damage compromising its integrity. Respirators that are to be used exclusively for escape from IDLH atmospheres are to be selected from those certified by NIOSH for escape from the atmosphere in which they will be used.
If the toxic materials in question can cause eye irritation, then a full facepiece or hood must be used. For example, under current 29 CFR For formaldehyde exposure, escape respirators may be a full facepiece with chin style, front, or a back-mounted industrial canister approved against formaldehyde 29 CFR Both of these programs are medical evaluations that certify ability to use a respirator.
The medical examination will be conducted by a physician experienced in occupational medicine. The examination will be provided free of charge to the applicant.
Failure to meet the required physical and medical qualifications will be considered disqualifying. Student trainees are covered under this program if their tenure with the Agency is expected to exceed a year from their initial pre-employment examination.
The medical evaluation is designed to identify medical conditions that place CSHOs who use respirators at risk of serious medical consequences. Medical conditions known to compromise an employee's ability to tolerate respirator-, job-, and workplace-related physiological stress include: cardiovascular and respiratory diseases e.
The following conditions compromise the effective use of the respirator and jeopardize worker protection: facepiece seal leakage; removing the respirator while in hazardous atmospheres; not properly performing user seal checks; or not properly repairing defective parts. Respirators with tight-fitting facepieces may not be worn by CSHOs who have conditions that would compromise the facepiece-to-face seal.
Examples of these conditions include facial hair e. Corrective glasses or goggles, or other personal protective equipment, must be worn in such a way that does not interfere with the seal of the facepiece to the face. It should be noted that in some cases a full-facepiece respirator or powered air-purifying respirator PAPR may be more comfortable and less cumbersome than the combination of a half-mask and chemical goggles.
OSHA's current standard on respiratory protection allows the use of contact lenses with respirators where the wearer has successfully worn such lenses before. Respirators that are issued for the exclusive use of a CSHO must be cleaned and disinfected as often as necessary to remain sanitary.
Respirators used by more than one employee must be cleaned and disinfected prior to being used by a different individual. Respirators maintained for escape-only use, as well as respirators used in fit testing and training, must be cleaned and disinfected after each use. The CSHO must use either the cleaning and disinfecting procedures recommended in Appendix B-2 of the OSHA respiratory protection standard or the procedures recommended by the respirator manufacturer, as long as they are equivalent in effectiveness to the OSHA method.
Equivalent effectiveness simply means that the procedures used ensure that the respirator is properly cleaned and disinfected in a manner that prevents damage to the respirator and does not cause harm to the user. The program administrator will ensure an adequate supply of the appropriate cleaning and disinfecting agents are maintained at the cleaning station.
The program administrator or other qualified individual will provide the necessary training to all CSHOs who may be assigned to wear respirators. Additional training may also be provided through completion of an OTI course in respiratory protection or other training source.
As a result of this training, all personnel will be able to understand the operation of the respirator and be able to use it properly. For example, training in the operation and use of SCBAs must be ongoing and continuous. Individuals who are designated to use SCBA must follow the manufacturer's instructions and be trained annually.
Training must include the wearing and use of SCBA during exercise situations e. All respirator training will be documented by the program administrator and the documentation will include the type, model, and size of the respirator assigned to each employee. The program administrator must regularly consult with CSHOs wearing respirators to ascertain the employees' views on program effectiveness and to identify any problems.
This assessment must determine if the respirators are properly fitted. It must also evaluate whether CSHOs are able to wear the respirators without interfering with effective workplace performance; respirators are correctly selected for the hazards encountered; respirators are being worn when necessary; and whether respirators are being maintained properly.
The program administrator must correct any problems associated with wearing a respirator that are identified by CSHOs or that are revealed during any other part of this evaluation.
The CSHO should also be provided with a copy. The program administrator must keep a copy of the written opinion as well as other records i. This information will assist the program administrator in auditing the adequacy of the program.
Fit test records must be retained for respirator users until the next fit test is administered. These records consist of:. Fit test records must be maintained to determine whether annual fit testing has been done, and whether the employee tested passed the QLFT or passed the QNFT with a fit factor that was appropriate for the type of respirator being used.
If the employee's use of a respirator is discontinued e. All written materials required to be maintained under the record keeping requirements must be made available, upon request, to affected CSHOs for examination and copying. Directives Respiratory Protection Program Guidelines. Record Type:. OSHA Instruction. CPL Respiratory Protection Program Guidelines. The purpose of the respirator program is to ensure that all OSHA employees are protected from exposure to respiratory hazards.
Scope: OSHA-wide. References: 29 CFR This instruction sets forth guidelines for establishing and implementing an OSHA respirator program. This instruction applies OSHA-wide. This instruction cancels CPL Action Information. Responsible Office. Telephone number Action Offices. Information Offices. Not applicable to this directive. Federal Program Change. This instruction describes a Federal Program Change for which State adoption is not required.
Significant Changes. These hazards include a wide range of airborne contaminants and in some cases represent immediately dangerous to life or health IDLH conditions. Respiratory Protection Program. Administration of Program. Each region must assign a program administrator to oversee the respiratory protection program for its Area Offices as well as Regional Office employees requiring respiratory protection.
The regional program administrator is responsible for evaluating the program's effectiveness. Each Area Office also must have a program administrator to coordinate the various aspects of the respiratory protection program on a local level.
The responsibilities detailed in Section B, which appear below, are guidelines for the Regional and Area Offices to follow in setting up a respirator program.
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