OSHA Overview: What Does OSHA Say about Respiratory Protection?

Is your company doing everything in its power to provide your staff with proper respiratory protection? The safety of your employees should always be your number one concern.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires companies to create a written respiratory protection program, complete with a list of required processes and procedures for required respiratory usage. This program must be administered by a trained professional.

OSHA has created a Small Entity Compliance Guide for the Respiratory Protection Standard, containing appropriate selection criteria for the program administrator and a sample program meeting all necessary requirements.

Respiratory Protection Program Guidelines

The following provisions are a sampling of criteria that must be included in your respiratory protection program, when applicable:

  • Effective processes and procedures for choosing respirators for use in the workplace
  • Providing medical evaluations to employees who are required to use respirators
  • Process of providing fit testing procedures for tight-fitting respirators
  • Detailed instructions on how to use respirators in routine and moderately predictable emergency circumstances
  • Instructions and schedules detailing how and when to clean, disinfect, store, inspect, repair, discard, and maintain respirators
  • Measures detailing how to safeguard adequate air quality, quantity, and flow of breathing air for atmosphere-supplying respirators
  • Plans to provide training to employees on the potential respiratory hazards they may be exposed to
  • Detailed procedures on how to train employees to properly use respirators
  • Regular review of the program to evaluate its effectiveness and make any necessary changes

Your employees are your most important asset. It’s important to take the time to develop a comprehensive respiratory protection program to ensure they’re always safe. People want to work for a company who values them as both an employee and a person. Not only will your team do better work when they know you’re looking out for their best interests, they’ll also have a greater sense of company loyalty.

If you’re looking for a new member to add to your team, contact MAC Incorporated. We understand the unique relationship between engineering, technology and operations in process driven environments.  Contact us today to learn how a partnership with our team can positively impact yours!