Respiratory Protection: An Overview of OSHA Requirements

OSHA’s general industry respiratory protection standard (29 CFR 1910.134) applies to virtually any situation that requires respirator use in any industry except agriculture. The standard requires:

• A written respiratory protection plan with worksite-specific procedures
• Appropriate respirators, certified by NIOSH and matched to the identified respiratory hazards in that workplace, provided at no cost to the employee
• Medical evaluation of each employee before being assigned to wear a respirator
• Respirator fit testing for each employee assigned to wear a respirator with a negative- or positive-pressure tight-fitting face piece
• Training for employees on why and how to select, use, fit, maintain, and store respirators
• Periodic evaluation of the respiratory protection program to be sure it is adequately protecting employees

The standard for general respiratory protection in construction industry (29 CFR 1926.103) adopts the general industry rule by reference. But note that there are additional construction-related respiratory protection requirements for certain air contaminants, such as asbestos, cadmium, hexavalent chromium (chromium VI), methylenedianiline, and lead.

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Respiratory Protection Plan

Your respiratory protection program must ensure that:

• Respirators are provided to all employees who need protection in the workplace.
• All respirators used are appropriate for the individual hazards to which an employee is exposed.
• Training in the use of the respiratory equipment is provided.
• Each employee understands how to use and uses the applicable respiratory protection.
• Medical evaluations of employees required to use respirators are conducted.
• Proper qualitative and quantitative fit-testing procedures are used.
• Respirators are cleaned, inspected, and disinfected in the proper manner. (If respiratory equipment is shared by more than one employee, the equipment is disinfected before each use.)
• Respiratory equipment complies with the requirements of NIOSH (42 CFR Part 84) and the “ANSI/Compressed Gas Association Commodity Specification for Air, G-7.1-1989” for compressed breathing air.

You must designate a program administrator who is qualified by appropriate training, or experience that is commensurate with the complexity of the program, to administer or oversee the respiratory protection program and conduct the required evaluations of program effectiveness.

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Cartridge/Canister Change Schedules

If there is no end-of-service life indicator (ESLI) appropriate for conditions in the your workplace, you must implement a change schedule for canisters and cartridges, based on objective information or data that will ensure canisters and cartridges are changed before the end of their service life.

You must describe in your respiratory protection program:

• The information and data relied on
• The basis for the canister and cartridge change schedule
• The basis for reliance on the data

Tomorrow, we’ll review the medical evaluation requirements of the respiratory protection standard.

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