Field Performance Measurements of Half-Facepiece Respirators: Developing Probability Estimates to Evaluate the Adequacy of an APF of 10

Details

• Personal Author:
  Myers WR ; Zhuang Z
• Description:
  To evaluate the protection provided by negative-pressure, half-facepiece respirators, ambient and in-facepiece samples were collected on workers in foundry, aircraft-painting, and steel-manufacturing operations. Protection was assessed by workplace protection factors (WPF). The appropriateness of the assigned protection factor (APF) for half-facepiece respirators was evaluated with a new approach using the WPF data from these and other studies previously published. The new approach utilizes binomial statistics based on the number of successes (no overexposure) and failures (overexposure) and is illustrated with a graphical representation of WPF data. With this consideration of the data, the probability of overexposure occurring during a wearing period for workers wearing the half-facepiece respirators represented by the studies referenced here was 0.5%, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.01 to 2.7%. If 50% in-facepiece sampling errors are considered, the probability of overexposure was 2.9%, with a 95% confidence interval of 1.1 to 6.3%. The authors believe the current APF of 10 for half-facepiece respirators is appropriate. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Dust Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Respiratory System Safety
• Keywords:
  Dust-exposure Dust-particles Dust-sampling Dusts Face-masks Personal-protection Personal-protective-equipment Respirable-dust Respiration Respirators Sampling-methods

  More +
• ISSN:
  0002-8894
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  59
• Issue:
  11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20023966
• Citation:
  Am Ind Hyg Assoc J 1998 Nov; 59(11):796-801
• Contact Point Address:
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Health Effects Laboratory Division, 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, WV 26505
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1999
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:319195b5171c0c3f60ff8ba23b850e8d953a67b239be77188f66fe41eddd4858f5e2e086b9029f8f2089139bd8d3d67e02cc85ed9fe5c3e92a1187a40b6723f8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195997/cdc_195997_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 339.17 KB ]