OSHA announces new respiratory protection standard

New assigned protection factors (APFs) for respiratory protection programs are being incorporated into OSHA’s respiratory standard, the agency announced Wednesday.

APFs are numbers that indicate the level of workplace respiratory protection that a respirator or class of respirators is expected to provide to employees when used as part of a respiratory protection program. An APF table is included in the final standard to guide employers in the selection of air-purifying, powered air-purifying, supplied-air and self-contained breathing apparatus respirators.

Employers must follow these new requirements and use APFs to select the appropriate type of respirator based upon the exposure limit of a contaminant and the level of the contaminant in the workplace. Employers select respirators by comparing the exposure level found in the workplace and the maximum concentration of the contaminant in which a particular type of respirator can be used.