If you’ve got respiratory hazards in your workplace, your workers should know about spirometry testing, which helps reduce or prevent worker exposure to respiratory hazards.
What is spirometry? Spirometry is a common pulmonary function test that measures how well a person moves air in and out of the lungs. Workers who inhale some types of dusts, gases, or other air contaminants can, over time, experience lung damage. The spirometry test can detect breathing problems or significant changes in a worker’s lung function at an early stage. Spirometry assists employers with identifying and eliminating hazardous workplace exposures and helping reduce or prevent the chances of workers developing lung disease.
How does it help protect workers? Periodic spirometry screening of individual workers identifies breathing problems or significant changes in lung function. This means that hazardous exposures can be identified and eliminated to prevent or reduce occupational lung disease. Equally important, surveillance can detect changes in lung function over time among groups of workers with similar exposures and thus help to recognize serious health effects in the workplace at a time when individual results may not be severe or noticeable. OSHA says you should consider periodically reviewing grouped data from worksite exposure assessments with a healthcare professional and should be alert for any significant changes in grouped results. Reviewing grouped data may help identify occupational exposures and assist in reducing or eliminating any hazards identified.
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When is spirometry testing needed? Periodic spirometry tests must be performed in accordance with OSHA standards. For occupational exposures to substances for which no OSHA standard applies, periodic spirometry is usually recommended, although it can be done more or less frequently. The frequency of testing should be determined by the specific hazard to which workers are being exposed. At a minimum, OSHA recommends testing at least every 3 years.
Where can you find out more about spirometry? OSHA has posted a fact sheet for employers on its website. This page will give you more details and links to additional information.
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Why It Matters
- Workers who inhale some types of dusts, gases, or other air contaminants can, over time, experience lung damage.
- Spirometry can detect breathing problems or significant changes in a worker’s lung function at an early stage when the problems are more treatable.
- OSHA says that spirometry is “the best available test for early detection of decreasing or abnormal lung function.”
- NIOSH says that spirometry is “a vital component of health and safety programs in workplaces where workers may be exposed to hazardous airborne contaminants.”
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