DCHAS-L Discussion List Archive
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2006 07:43:16 -0400
Reply-To: List Moderator <esf**At_Symbol_Here**UVM.EDU>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: List Moderator <esf**At_Symbol_Here**UVM.EDU>
Subject: Re: Hold on a minute, Dr. E.
From: ACTSNYC**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Hold on a minute, Dr. E.
Date: October 5, 2006 4:29:36 PM EDT
>I believe this discussion is about use of respirators and the like
in secondary school activities. There, OSHA regulations have little
presence and the driving force is doing it right to protect the
students, avoid
litigation, and perhaps even teach them something about good practice.
If you mean by "good practice" letting high school students put on
masks without knowing about and following the rules that apply in the
adult world, then I take issue. And with the large number of
asthmatics in schools today, and undiagnosed heart problems in
occasional students, medical certification is a must.
The worst thing about this idea is schools that do this are adding
their students to the numbers of uneducated members of the public who
will go to the hardware store for a mask when they are doing some
hazarous household or hobby task. They'll buy a mask for the wrong
contaminant, that doesn't fit properly, and wear it past expiration
while thinking they are protected.
Or worse yet, the students will graduate and get a job with some
unscrupulous employer who hands them the wrong mask without proper
fit testing and training and they'll be too uneducated to know that
their rights have just been trampled on.
I deal with dozens of people who are injured by this practice every
year. They are always amazed to learn that they are supposed to be
fit tested, certified and trained to wear them properly. They should
have learned this in high school along with basic hazard
communication, and the lot.
Monona Rossol
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