Respirators are the last line of defense against exposure for your employees. For that reason, if you decide to use respiratory protection to lower worker exposures to hazardous airborne contaminants you must follow all requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Respiratory Protection Standard 29 CFR 1910.134.

Some of the things you are required to do when using respirators include: Exposure assessment, develop a written respiratory program, select respirators based on the hazards, respirator medical evaluations, annual fit testing, annual training, plus an annual program review.

A written program is required for mandatory use of respiratory protection and recommended for voluntary use. OSHA 1910.134(c) states: “In any workplace where respirators are necessary to protect the health of the employee or whenever respirators are required by the employer, the employer shall establish and implement a written respiratory protection.

OSHA requires the employer to evaluate respiratory hazard(s) in the workplace (contaminant and concentration), identify relevant workplace and user factors, and base respirator selection on these factors. The respiratory hazard evaluation includes “a reasonable estimate of employee exposures to respiratory hazard(s)”. The respirator type or class is then selected by comparing the employee’s exposure to the occupational exposure limit and determining the minimum necessary respirator assigned protection factor. Where the employer cannot identify or reasonably estimate the employee exposure, OSHA requires the employer to consider the atmosphere as IDLH.

Medical evaluation of the employee is required for mandatory use of all respirators or voluntary use of elastomeric face pieces, and recommended for voluntary use of filtering face pieces. OSHA 1910.134(e) states: “The employer shall provide a medical evaluation to determine the employee's ability to use a respirator, before the employee is fit tested or required to use the respirator in the workplace.”

Fit testing is required for mandatory use of all tight-fitting face pieces and recommended for voluntary use. OSHA 1910.134(f) states: “The employer shall ensure that an employee using a tight-fitting face piece respirator is fit tested prior to initial use of the respirator, whenever a different respirator face piece (size, style, model or make) is used, and at least annually thereafter.” Employees issued powered air purifying respirators and supplied air respirators with loose-fitting face pieces, hoods or helmets are not subject to fit testing.

Training is required for mandatory use and recommended for voluntary use of respirators. OSHA 1910.134(k) states: “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.”

To ensure the elements of the OSHA respirator standard are being properly implemented you should conduct and document an annual review or audit of your entire respiratory protection program.