Respiratory Protection: Are You Compliant? Medical Evaluations Respirators can make breathing more difficult and may place additional stress on the bodies of workers assigned to wear them. Because of this, before they are required to wear a respirator, employees must be medically approved to do so. Ask Yourself: •Have all employees required to wear a respirator been medically evaluated before wearing a respirator for the first time? •Did you have a physician or other licensed healthcare professional conduct the medical evaluations? •Was the OSHA approved medical evaluation completed? Respirator Fit Testing Fit testing must be conducted before any employee wears a respirator with a tight-fitting face piece. This is very important because if the respirator does not fit properly it will not offer the full level of protection against contaminants. Ask Yourself: •Have all employees been fit-tested before wearing respirators with tight-fitting face pieces? •If testing has yet to be conducted, will all employees be tested with the same make, model, style and size that they will be expected to use? •Are fit tests being conducted annually? •Have fit tests been administered using OSHA accepted Quantitative (QNFT) or Qualitative (QLFT) protocols? Training and Plan Evaluation Employee training is critical for a successful respiratory protection program. Employees must be trained on respirator use and care before they are required to wear a respirator on the job and also on an annual basis. Ask Yourself: •Is your training understandable to your employees? •Have all employees been trained prior to their first use of a respirator? •Does your training cover all topics required by OSHA? •Are you retaining records required by OSHA? •Are you regularly evaluating the effectiveness of your program? •Do you have a schedule for re-training employees and understand when re-training is necessary? • How often are you re-evaluating potential changes in the exposures via ongoing air quality sampling? Still unsure if your respiratory protection program is compliant with OSHA’s standards? Contact our safety specialists for help today by emailing: safetyquestions@fastenal.com Talk Date:______________________________ Supervisor/Facilitator:_______________________________________ Location:_______________________________ Department:______________________________________________ SAFETY FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT CONTACT: SAFETYQUESTIONS@FASTENAL.COM OR 1-833-FNL-SAFE WF_243552 JP 06/21 20.5
Download PDF file