Chapter 1 - NIOSH and Respiratory Protection
When the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) was established in 1971, the professional staff recognized the crucial need for establishing the correct role of respiratory protection in workplaces. While dedicating the majority of its resources to the fundamental concepts of industrial health and safety, NIOSH has devoted a significant part of those resources to three areas of respiratory protection – research, training, and certification.
NIOSH has had an ongoing respirator research program since the early 1970s. Most of the recent research has been dedicated toward improving the quality and reliability of respirators through development of new and revised performance requirements for respirator certification.
Respirator training has been a focal point of the NIOSH activities in respiratory protection. The basic respirator training courses which are available from several sources today are based on the respirator course developed by NIOSH personnel.
NIOSH and OSHA established a Joint Respirator Committee in 1973, for the purpose of developing standard respirator selection criteria and tables for the approximately 400 hazardous materials regulated by OSHA. This committee, assisted by contractors from Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and Arthur D. Little, Inc., developed the respirator selection tables that appear in NIOSH criteria documents and in the initial NIOSH/OSHA Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards. The committee also participated in development of the initial Respirator Decision Logic, which has been revised for this publication.
The respirator certification work of NIOSH is a direct offshoot of the approval of mine rescue breathing apparatus by the Bureau of Mines. Under authorization of the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, NIOSH has established an evaluation and certification program for respirators. All certifications are issued jointly with the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
The goal of the certification program is to help increase worker protection from airborne contaminants by certifying respirators that meet the minimum performance requirements which appear in Title 30, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 11 (30 CFR 11). NIOSH certification evaluations include a laboratory evaluation of the respirator, an evaluation of the manufacturer’s quality control (QC) plan, audit testing of certified respirators, and investigations of problems with MSHA/NIOSH certified respirators. In accordance with 30 CFR 11, MSHA/NIOSH certifications are issued for respirators specifically for use in mines and mining. However, the wide variety of respirators used in mines and mining ensures the availability of certified respirators for most other applications.
NIOSH has proposed significant revisions to 30 CFR 11. Once revised regulations are in effect, NIOSH expects to push vigorously for other improvements in respirator performance standards over the ensuing several years.
NIOSH also monitors respirators over the lifetime of their certification. Samples of "off the shelf" respirators are evaluated in NIOSH laboratories to see if they continue to meet applicable minimum performance requirements. In addition, NIOSH performs in-plant QC audits in order to determine if manufacturers are complying with the QC plans submitted in their approval applications. Reports of problems received from regulatory agencies, labor organizations, respirator users, and respirator manufacturers are investigated and resolved.
