Correlation Between Quantitative Fit Factors and Protection Factors Measured Under Actual Workplace Environments at a Steel Foundry

Details

• Personal Author:
  Zhuang Z
• Description:
  Past studies have found little to no correlation between workplace protection factors and quantitative fit factors (FFs). The purpose of this new study was to investigate the correlation between FFs and protection factors (PF) for half-facepiece, air-purifying respirators under actual workplace environments at a steel foundry. Fifteen burners, welders, and chippers wore two respirator models. Each worker donned a respirator twice per day for two days. Quantitative FFs were first obtained for each donning using the PortaCount Plus in a separate room. Without redonning the respirators, workers performed normal work for one to two hours, and protection factors were measured by collecting ambient and in-facepiece samples simultaneously. A second fit-test was conducted without redonning the respirator. Fit factors were obtained by averaging the results from the first and second fit-tests. The resulting FFs had a geometric mean (GM) of 400 (range=1 0-601 0) and a geometric standard deviation (GSD) of 6.1. The protection factors had a GM of 920 (range=13-230000) and a GSD of 17.8. The protection factors were found to be significantly correlated with the FFs (R2=0.55 and p-value=0.0001). This field study has, therefore, shown fit factor to be a meaningful indicator of respirator performance under actual workplace environments. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Metals Metal Workers Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Air-purifiers Air-purifying-respirators Personal-protective-equipment Quantitative-analysis Respirators Respiratory-protection Respiratory-protective-equipment Steel-foundries Steel-industry Work-environment
• Publisher:
  International Society for Respiratory Protection
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  NPPTL - National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20023152
• Citation:
  11th ISRP International Conference, 2002 Sep-Oct; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  International Society for Respiratory Protection 11th International Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland, September 29 - October 3, 2002
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9abd6062aceb10369fbec89d5c447e8fa13068865ad36f2003356fc6ed50cb004d25e32f2a39ce03d380fff5c8e08d30bac035a5505b0aae4ff115c3342357fd
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195735/cdc_195735_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 8.84 MB ]