NIOSH/BLS 2001/2002 National Survey of Respirator Use and Practices

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bang K ; Campbell, David D. ; Doney B ; Greskevich, Mark F. ; Groce D ; Hoffman W ; Middendorf, Paul J. ; Syamlal G
• Description:
  The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted a nationwide respirator survey through the United States Department of Labor/Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The purpose of the survey was to evaluate respirator use and practice that could aid in guiding NIOSH respirator certification and research. The survey was mailed in August 2001 to 40,000 establishments representing all of the private sector major industry divisions. The survey allowed us to project findings to the 2-digit Standard Industrial Classification level. The information gathered in the questionnaire included: voluntary vs. required use, number of workers wearing respirators, types of respirators worn, agents the respirators were intended to protect against, types of fit-testing, existence and features of the written respiratory protection programs, qualifications of respirator program administrators, how fitness to wear a respirator was determined, and respirator labeling. During the 12 months prior to the survey, 4.5% of establishments and 3.1 % of employees had required respirator use. Of the establishments with employees that used respirators, 95% used air-purifying respirators, 17% used air-supplied respirators, and 10% used respirators for emergency purposes. The highest rates of respirator use, whether measured by percent establishments or percent employees, were found in: manufacturing; mining; construction; and agriculture, forestry, and fishing. The categories of agents most frequently protected against were: paint vapors, solvents, and dust. The questionnaire contained questions from which indicators of inadequate respirator programs were derived (e.g., employees who wore tight-fitting respirators were not fit tested). Forty-five percent of the establishments with employees that used respirators had at least five indicators of an inadequate program. The survey indicated that employees do not have the benefit of a complete respirator program in 90% of establishments using respirators. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Air Pollutants, Occupational Construction Industry Dust Hunting Mining Occupational Health Paint Particulate Matter Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Respiratory System Safety Solvents

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• Keywords:
  Agricultural-industry Air-purifiers Construction-industry Dust-particles Dusts Fishing-industry Mining-industry Paints Particulate-dust Particulates Respirators Respiratory-equipment Respiratory-protection Respiratory-protective-equipment Surveillance Workers

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• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 6 ; Pennsylvania ; Texas ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  NPPTL - National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory ; DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies ; DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  52
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20022774
• Citation:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 10-15, 2003, Dallas, Texas. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2003 May; :52
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  1141 - Fishing - (NAICS)
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 10-15, 2003, Dallas, Texas
• End Date:
  20040930
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:724f39ed2c3481e37a25254f18f81fded8cc5ca54d766687d808eb449bd5502d853a00a4824abdf047af57e56f47d454ab7242542feb81664fb2a2b15a6ad9c7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/199423/cdc_199423_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 589.71 KB ]