Utility of an optical particle counting instrument for quantitative respirator fit testing with N95 filtering facepieces.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Grinshpun SA ; Leppänen M ; Wu B ; Yermakov M
• Description:
  Currently, the aerosol-based quantitative respirator fit testing is primarily conducted using a PortaCount(R) (TSI Inc., Shoreview, MN, USA), which utilizes a condensation particle counting (CPC) technique and measures particles in a size range of dp approx 0.02 - 1 µm. A U.S. OSHA-accepted fit testing protocol or similar protocols approved by other countries' regulatory agencies shall be followed. We recently investigated a new instrument, MT-05U (Sibata Scientific Technologies, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) utilizing an optical particle counting (OPC) technique, dp ≥ 0.3 µm, for the quantitative fit testing of three types of respirators with high-efficiency filters - the P100 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs), and elastomeric half- and full-face respirators. Conducted with the PortaCount(R) as the reference instrument, good feasibility of the OPC method for fit testing of the above-mentioned types of respirators was demonstrated, according to the ANSI standard Z88.10-2010. The present effort is a follow-up study, in which the same fit testing instrument MT05U was evaluated utilizing the same approach for N95 FFRs via the PortaCount(R) N95-CompanionTM as the reference instrument. It was found that the new instrument could identify inadequate fits of all tested N95 FFRs with sensitivity (probability of identifying inadequate fits) of 1.00, exceeding the ANSI mandatory requirement of ≥ 0.95. The predictive value of a pass was 1.00 as well, exceeding the advisory criteria of ≥ 0.95. Additionally, the specificity and predictive value of a fail were 0.59 and 0.69, respectively, both exceeding the advisory criteria of ≥ 0.5. The value of the kappa statistic was 0.58 falling below the threshold of 0.7 (it is acknowledged though that the latter is optional as it is neither mandatory nor advised according to ANSI). In conclusion, the evaluated OPC-based fit tester could be successfully deployed as an alternative method for quantitative fit testing for N95 FFRs. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: N95 Respirator; Fit Test; Optical Particle Counter; Condensation Particle Counter Respirators; Respiratory Protection; N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators; Personal Protective Equipment; PPE; Aerosols; Fit Testing; Particle Counters;
• ISSN:
  0892-6298
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  14-25
• Volume:
  35
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20065098
• Citation:
  J Int Soc Respir Prot 2018 Jan; 35(1):14-25
• Contact Point Address:
  Sergey A. Grinshpun, Center for Health-Related Aerosol Studies, Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati, PO Box 670056, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0056, USA
• Email:
  sergey.grinshpun@uc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• Performing Organization:
  University of Cincinnati
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of the International Society for Respiratory Protection
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a640ef700a23f8c369ed8c80fde28a24d5b08ba2394214777e80ce65535f3377e17f897fa24387793af17cdadca22741a3d0880774e97cb9480ded431cacc5fc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/248713/cdc_248713_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 416.56 KB ]