3. Most respirator use is in violation of OSHA law. Respirators can only be used in compliance with the OSHA Respiratory Protection Standard 29 CFR 1910.134. This standard has many requirements, all of which must be implemented by an employer who wants to use respirators to control worker exposures.

Management almost never implements all pieces of the OSHA standard. They are, therefore, technically in noncompliance with the law. A detailed and specific knowledge of the standard by unionists can allow the union to fight effectively management's attempt to use respirators.

4. Respirators don't stop absorption through the skin. Many chemicals affect the skin directly. Others pass right through the skin to cause damage inside the body. Since respirators only limit what you are inhaling, they are essentially useless where skin contact continues.

5. Respirators are no good without "adequate warning properties." According to the law, respirators may only be worn as protection against chemicals that have "adequate warning properties." This means that should your respirator fail or leak, thereby allowing a chemical to penetrate into your breathing zone, you would be able to detect the substance (by odor, irritation of mouth or nose, etc.) at a level below the established OSHA level. If the chemical does not have such warning properties, then the law says you are not permitted to wear a respirator. For example, carbon monoxide (CO) is colorless and odorless - it does not have adequate warning properties. If it leaked through the respirator and exceeded the OSHA level of 50 ppm you would never know it.

6. Respirators should not be used as protection against cancer-causing agents because there is no safe exposure level for these chemicals. Since respirators are not foolproof, there is no way to guarantee that no exposure will occur.

7. All wearers of respirators must be "fit tested." all wearers of respirators must be "fit tested" for the specific respirator they will be given to ensure that it will not leak in the field.

Since every individual's facial shape is different, because many people have scars, or missing teeth, or wear dentures, and because respirators are designed for the average male worker's face, it is often difficult to be properly fitted.

Fit testing itself requires the wearer to put the respirator on and to have a test chemical (that can be easily detected if it penetrated the face-piece) sprayed around the seal of the respirator while the person moves his/her face, smiles, talks, etc. If he or she detects the chemical, then the mask doesn't fit. It is therefore clear that the management must have many different sizes and makes of respirators available in order to ensure that everyone can be properly and safely fit. Even with a respirator that fits, one hit to the head and it doesn't fit anymore.

8. Air-purifying respirators place a stress on the heart and lungs. Respirators place a stress on the heart and lungs by presenting a resistance to breathing (this is because air must pass through a filter of some type prior to entering the body). Because of this, each respirator wearer must be medically evaluated for his or her fitness to wear a respirator by having a physician check heart and lung function.

If a worker has medical problems wearing a typical negative-pressure cartridge respirator, there are alternatives. For example, a Power Air-Purifying Respirator (PAPR) is much less stressful to the heart and lungs. (This medical fitness situation is extremely sticky from a labor viewpoint since it can be used by management to get rid of "unfit" workers - particularly those with seniority.)

Summary written by Jerry Roseman, Industrial Hygienist.