Environmental Health & Safety
Respiratory Protection Program
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This policy covers any University employee who, in the course of their duties, may perform work in areas where recognized or anticipated respiratory hazards are present.
Examples of recognized hazards include, but are not limited to chemical exposures, biological exposures, adn airborne debris that could be inhaled. Personal protective equipment shall not be relied upon when there are feasible engineering and/or administrative controls available that can provide protection equal to or greater than that offered by personal protective equipment.
Many substances may be harmful if inhaled. Examples include some wood dusts, chemical powders, particulates, mists from water-based chemical sprays, gaseous chemicals, fumes from welding galvanized steel, vapors, or aerosolized microorganisms such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB). When it is not possible to remove these hazards with engineering controls (for example, substituting non-harmful products or installing exhause ventilation), or to reduce exposure to safe levles by means of administrative controls, it may be necessary to use respiratory protection.
It is the intent of this program that the University of Rochester shall:
- Evaluate tasks and workplaces to determine if respiratory protection is needed
- Evaluate employees' medical status before issuing respirators (and when necessary, to accomodate those employees who cannot wear respiratory protection for medical reasons)
- Provide training on the proper selection, use, care, and limitations of respirators
- Provide properly fitted respirators to any employees who may need them
- Perform any other tasks necessary to comply with OSHA's 29 CFR 1910.134, Respiratory Protection Standard https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.134
No employee may be fitted for, issued, required to use, or use a respirator of any sort without complying fully with this document.
Any employee wishing to use a respiratory voluntarily, for comfort purposes, must do so in compliance with the voluntary use provisions of this document in Appendix A.
III. DEFINITIONS
Air-purifying respirator (APR) means a respirator with an air-purifying filter or cartridge that removes specific air contaminants by passing ambient air through the air-purifying element.
Assigned protection factor (APF) means the workplace level of respiratory protection that a respirator or class of respirators is expected to provide to employees when the employer implements a continuing, effective respiratory protection program as specified by this section.
Atmosphere-supplying respirator means a respirator that supplies the respirator user with breathing air from a source independent of the ambient atmosphere, and includes supplied-air respirators (SARs) and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) units.
Cartridge means a container with a filter, sorbent, or catalyst, or combination of these items, which removes specific contaminants from the air passed through the container.
Employee exposure means exposure to a concentration of an airborne contaminant that would occur if the employee were not using respiratory protection.
End-of-service-life indicator (ESLI) means a system that warns the respirator user of the approach of the end of adequate respiratory protection, for example, that the sorbent is approaching saturation or is no longer effective.
Filter or air purifying element means a component used in respirators to remove solid or liquid aerosols from the inspired air.
Dust mask means a negative pressure particulate respirator with a filter as an integral part of the facepiece or with the entire facepiece composed of the filtering medium
Fit factor means a quantitative estimate of the fit of a particular respirator to a specific individual, and typically estimates the ratio of the concentration of a substance in ambient air to its concentration inside the respirator when worn.
Fit test means the use of a protocol to qualitatively or quantitatively evaluate the fit of a respirator on an individual
Helmet means a rigid respiratory inlet covering that also provides head protection against impact and penetration.
High efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter means a filter that is at least 99.97% efficient in removing monodisperse particles of 0.3 micrometers in diameter. The equivalent NIOSH 42 CFR 84 particulate filters are the N100, R100, and P100 filters.
Hood means a respiratory inlet covering that completely covers the head and neck and may also cover portions of the shoulders and torso.
Immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) means an atmosphere that poses an immediate threat to life, would cause irreversible adverse health effects, or would impair an individual's ability to escape from a dangerous atmosphere.
Negative pressure respirator (tight fitting) means a respirator in which the air pressure inside the facepiece is negative during inhalation with respect to the ambient air pressure outside the respirator.
Oxygen deficient atmosphere means an atmosphere with an oxygen content below 19.5% by volume.
Physician or other licensed health care professional (PLHCP) means an individual whose legally permitted scope of practice (i.e., license, registration, or certification) allows him or her to independently provide, or be delegated the responsibility to provide, some or all of the health care services required by 1910.134.
Positive pressure respirator means a respirator in which the pressure inside the respiratory inlet covering exceeds the ambient air pressure outside the respirator.
Powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) means an air-purifying respirator that uses a blower to force the ambient air through air-purifying elements to the inlet covering (i.e. MaxAir CAPR).
Pressure demand respirator means a positive pressure atmosphere-supplying respirator that admits breathing air to the facepiece when the positive pressure is reduced inside the facepiece by inhalation.
Qualitative fit test (QLFT) means a pass/fail fit test to assess the adequacy of respirator fit that relies on the individual's response to the test agent.
Quantitative fit test (QNFT) means an assessment of the adequacy of respirator fit by numerically measuring the amount of leakage into the respirator.
Respiratory inlet covering means that portion of a respirator that forms the protective barrier between the user's respiratory tract and an air-purifying device or breathing air source, or both. It may be a facepiece, helmet, hood, and suit.
Self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) means an atmosphere-supplying respirator for which the breathing air source is designed to be carried by the user.
Service life means the period of time that a respirator, filter or sorbent, or other respiratory equipment provides adequate protection to the wearer.
Supplied-air respirator (SAR) or airline respirator means an atmosphere-supplying respirator for which the source of breathing air is not designed to be carried by the user (i.e. air compressor).
Tight-fitting facepiece means a respiratory inlet covering that forms a complete seal with the face.
User seal check means an action conducted by the respirator user to determine if the respirator is properly seated to the face.
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