PERSONAL PROTECTION
“THER WHY S WEAR ACCE DISCO AWAR
BREATHE EASY
Occupational respiratory diseases kill 12,000 people every year. With a range of RPE solutions on the market, there’s no excuse for this staggering figure. Mark Andrews, Product Manager for Air Purified at Scott Safety, offers his advice on setting up a successful respiratory protection programme.
The HSE reports that there are approximately 12,000 deaths each year due to occupational respiratory diseases, with industries at greatest risk including construction, welding, quarrying, foundry, agriculture and the food industry. Health reasons, compliance with the law, workplace procedures and personal judgement are all good reasons for end users to choose to wear respiratory protection equipment (RPE).
However, there are just as many reasons why some choose not to. This may include limited access to equipment, user discomfort, incompatibility with other PPE, a lack of awareness of health risks and how RPE works and inadequate guidance. Developing an RPE programme can help educate workers on the need for this vital equipment and allows employers to track its effectiveness.
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ASSESS THE RISK An effective workplace risk assessment will identify all factors potentially hazardous to health. In terms of respiratory hazards, it will highlight potential threats arising from environments Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health (IDLH), such as oxygen-deficiency or the presence of acute respiratory toxins, and will also consider the threat from combinations of respiratory hazards such as mixtures of dusts, fibres and gases. To quantify risk in relation to respiratory hazards, ‘hazard ratio’ – the ratio between the allowable concentration limit and that which is found in the workplace environment – is used. Appropriate RPE that provides a sufficient protection factor will then be selected to mitigate risk, as calculated by the hazard ratio.
Selecting appropriate RPE for protection in a hazardous environment also requires a clearly defined set of steps to be followed in order to
determine the best RPE for the task at hand. Consideration should be given to breathing apparatus, filtering masks, powered air or the use of compressed airline systems as part of this process. HSE has published guidelines in its HSG53 document detailing protection factors offered by various types of RPE-filtering face pieces, half masks, full masks and powered air, in order to comply with the law.
Many types of filter are available on the market, for example, PSL, ABE, ABEK ABEK-Hg. This can make RPE selection even more confusing. To assist in choosing the right face mask filter types, reputable equipment manufacturers offer online tools, like Scott Safety’s SureLife, which allow easy selection of a filter for particular respiratory hazards.
FACE FIT TESTING Research indicates that up to 50% of all RPE used does not offer
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