Clear the Air for Respirator Training

Today’s Advisor presents a respirator training exercise for you to use with your employees. This material comes from BLR’s Respiratory Protection—Healthcare Worker PowerPoint® presentation.

Target Audience: All employees who need to use respirators on the job

Exercise Objective: To ensure that employees recognize respiratory hazards and select proper respiratory protection for each hazard

Instructions: In the space provided, briefly answer each of the following questions:

1. What respiratory hazards do you face in your job and in your work area?

______________________________________________________

2. What type of respiratory protection is required to protect you against each of those hazards?

______________________________________________________

3. If you use an air-purifying respirator, what color cartridge or canister is required for each type of hazard?

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

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Guidance

1. Make sure you are familiar with the jobs performed by trainees and the respiratory hazards of their jobs and work areas.

2. Identify the proper respiratory protection for each hazard, including:

• Type of respiratory protection
• Type of cartridge(s) or canister(s) required for air-purifying respirators
• Conditions under which atmosphere-supplying respirators might be required, if applicable

3. These are the NIOSH-approved color-coded labels used on respirator filters, cartridges, or canisters:

• Acid gas (e.g., sulfuric acid)—white
• Acid gas and organic vapor—yellow
• Acid, ammonia, and organic vapors—brown
• Acid gas, ammonia, carbon monoxide, and organic vapors—red
• Ammonia—green
• Carbon monoxide gas—blue
• Chlorine—white and yellow
• Dust, fumes, and mists (nonradioactive)—orange
• Organic vapor—black
• Other vapors and gases—olive

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This training exercise comes from BLR’s Respiratory Protection—Healthcare Worker PowerPoint® presentation, which includes slideshow notes, handout, and quiz, as well as training exercises.

Why It Matters

• According to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), approximately 5 million workers are required to wear respirators in 1.3 million workplaces throughout the nation. Respirators protect workers against insufficient oxygen environments, harmful dusts, fogs, smokes, mists, gases, vapors, sprays, and airborne TB bacteria.
• Respiratory hazards include cancer, lung impairment, other diseases, or death. The use of respirators may avert hundreds of deaths and thousands of illnesses annually.
• According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in a recent year only 59 percent of establishments that required employees to use respirators actually provided respirator training.