4. An understanding of the principles, design, scope of use, limitations, advantages, and disadvantages of the available respirators. Respiratory equipment selected will be approved by the Company or will otherwise be in accordance with existing OSHA regulations.
b. Medical Evaluations – It is the responsibility of the Health and Safety Branch to review the health status of all Employee(s) who may be required to wear respiratory equipment. In the event of prolonged respirator use, the wearer should have a medical examination to determine if he/she is medically able to wear respiratory protective equipment without aggravating a pre-existing medical condition
Medical considerations include, but are not limited to the following:
c. Fitting – Each individual required to use a respirator of any type will be fitted by the Safety and Health Manager prior to using any such device. The fit test will include a demonstration of proper donning, wearing, and field fit testing techniques, an extensive leak test using a solution of isoamyl acetate as the test vapor and a quantitative fit test using a respirator fit tester. Any individual with a beard or other facial hair that may prevent a proper face piece-to-face seal will not be fit tested until the hair has been removed. A separate Respirator Fitting and Training Record shall be maintained for each participating individual.
A fit test shall be used to determine the ability of each individual respirator wearer to obtain a satisfactory fit with any air-purifying respirator. Both quantitative and qualitative fit tests will be performed. Personnel must successfully pass the fit test before being issued an air-purifying respirator.
No Company employee is permitted to wear a negative-pressure respirator in a work situation until he or she has demonstrated that an acceptable fit can be obtained.
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