Respirator Fit Test Overview & Guide

Respirators are the last line of defense between workers and harmful air contaminants, irritants and other workplace respiratory hazards, but simply putting on a respirator doesn’t mean you’re protected. Whether it’s an N95 filtering facepiece respirator that we’re all so familiar with now or a full self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), if respirators don’t fit properly, they provide little or no protection for workers.

That’s why regulations like OSHA’s Respiratory Protection Standard and other occupational health and safety (OHS) regulations require employers to perform and document fit tests for every worker who wears a respirator, and for every covered respirator type used in your workplace, to make sure workers are protected to the highest possible degree.

Here, we’ll take a closer look at some of the most common questions regarding respirator fit testing to help you break down the process and eliminate any confusion you might have around this absolutely critical component of workplace respiratory protection.

What is a respirator fit test?

A respirator fit test is an evaluation procedure used to verify that respiratory protective equipment (respirators) used by workers is properly sized for the individual user, that it functions according to the manufacturer’s specifications, and that a respirator?actually?provides the level of protection it is designed to provide.

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