DCHAS-L Discussion List Archive
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2006 07:46:50 -0700
Reply-To: Gordon Miller <miller22**At_Symbol_Here**LLNL.GOV>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: Gordon Miller <miller22**At_Symbol_Here**LLNL.GOV>
Subject: Respiratory Protection for Students
The questions about whether students should be treated like workers
is surprising.
Ralph just said it - liability dictates offering an equivalent
standard of care. Maybe even better because the parents have
entrusted their kids to the institution's care.
Students who are under age are going to warrant additional safety and
health protection as do inexperienced people. Respirators come in
sizes based on the adult population. They may not fit some underage
users.
I would be reluctant to rely on N95 filtering facepieces for
respiratory protection. The controversy about how much protection
they offer is not yet settled (OSHA set an Applied Protection Factor
of 10, but the ANSI standard is still pending). Its easy to ignore
the instructions and pinch fit the mask over the nose or cut a strap.
Its easy to use a filtering facepiece for a highly toxic material
like asbestos. Also N95s are particulate removing devices while
carbon-treated N95s have limited vapor protection capabilities.
You'll need elastomeric facepieces with properly selected cartridges
for serious gas/vapor protection. N95s are not a panacea.
Students, like anybody else, need to use respirators that they are
able to use and that will work. That means medical qualification
followed by fit testing followed by being issued properly selected
respirators that will control exposures to the contaminants of
interest followed by properly maintaining and servicing them so they
continue to protect. There's a well-known way to ensure these actions
are taken and that is to comply with the OSHA standard.
Finally, I can just imagine the facial hair issues that will arise,
say with adult male students and faculty in a fine arts department!
Ralph had it right when he advised doing air sampling and proving
masks aren't needed. But follow OSHA if they are.
Previous post | Top of Page | Next post
