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On August 6, 2012, a fire at a refinery in California shut down the facility for months and sent more than 15,000 nearby residents to local hospitals with breathing problems. The fire occurred when a 52-inch section of pipe leading from a crude oil distillation tower began leaking flammable hydrocarbons that formed a vapor cloud […]
In the first century B.C., the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote about miners using pig bladders to try to protect themselves from hazardous breathing air in the mines. We’ve made some refinements since Pliny’s day—to the point of recognizing that the respirator itself can, under some conditions, be hazardous.
Respirators can be real lifesavers. A firefighter inside a building filled with toxic smoke breathes clean air because of his respirator, as does a painter inside a spray booth. But for workers with underlying heart or lung issues, a respirator can place a dangerous amount of stress on the body. That’s why OSHA’s respiratory protection […]