When do employees need respirators?

OSHA notes that in general, employers must provide respirators "when employees must work in environments with insufficient oxygen or where harmful dusts, fogs, smokes, mists, fumes, gases, vapors, or sprays are present."

Before requiring respirator use and respiratory programs, employers must implement the appropriate work practices and engineering controls to diminish the workplace's respiratory hazards. Examples include "enclosing or confining the contaminant-producing operation, exhausting the contaminant, or substituting with less toxic materials."

When these practices and controls are not adequate, or in times when it is not possible to implement these practices (such as during emergency operations, or when entering a new site prior to implementing engineering controls), respiratory protection use becomes a requirement.

To learn more about Respiratory Protection visit our Respiratory Protection Online Training web page.