A gas mask is an item of personal protective equipment used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Most gas masks are also respirators, though the word gas mask is often used to refer to military equipment, the scope used in this article. The gas mask only protects the user from digesting, inhaling, and contact through the eyes. Most combined gas mask filters will last around 8 hours in a biological or chemical situation. Filters against specific chemical agents can last up to 20 hours.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, electrical, heat, chemical, biohazards, and airborne particulate matter. Protective equipment may be worn for job-related occupational safety and health purposes, as well as for sports and other recreational activities. Protective clothing is applied to traditional categories of clothing, and protective gear applies to items such as pads, guards, shields, or masks, and others. PPE suits can be similar in appearance to a cleanroom suit.
A self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) is a device worn to provide an autonomous supply of breathable gas in an atmosphere that is immediately dangerous to life or health. They are typically used in firefighting and industry. The term self-contained means that the SCBA is not dependent on a remote supply of breathing gas. If designed for use under water, it is also known as a scuba set. When not used underwater, they are sometimes called industrial breathing sets. Some types are also referred to as a compressed air breathing apparatus (CABA) or simply breathing apparatus (BA). Unofficial names include air pack, air tank, oxygen cylinder or simply pack, which are mostly used in firefighting.
A respirator is a device designed to protect the wearer from inhaling hazardous atmospheres including fumes, vapours, gases and particulate matter such as dusts and airborne pathogens such as viruses. There are two main categories of respirators: the air-purifying respirator, in which respirable air is obtained by filtering a contaminated atmosphere, and the air-supplied respirator, in which an alternate supply of breathable air is delivered. Within each category, different techniques are employed to reduce or eliminate noxious airborne contaminants.
A breathing mask is a mask that covers the mouth, nose, and optionally other parts of the face or head, designed to constrain and direct the wearer's breath to and/or from a particular breathing apparatus. It may mean, or be part of, one of these types:
The term immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) is defined by the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as exposure to airborne contaminants that is "likely to cause death or immediate or delayed permanent adverse health effects or prevent escape from such an environment." Examples include smoke or other poisonous gases at sufficiently high concentrations. It is calculated using the LD50 or LC50. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation defines the term as "an atmosphere that poses an immediate threat to life, would cause irreversible adverse health effects, or would impair an individual's ability to escape from a dangerous atmosphere."
A hazmat suit is a piece of personal protective equipment that consists of an impermeable whole-body garment worn as protection against hazardous materials.
Escape breathing apparatus, also called escape respirators, escape sets, self-rescuer masks, emergency life saving apparatus (ELSA), emergency escape breathing devices (EEBD), and Respiratory Protective Smoke Escape Devices (RPED), are portable breathing apparatus that provide the wearer with respiratory protection for a limited period, intended for escape from or through an environment where there is no breathable ambient atmosphere. This includes escape through water and in areas containing harmful gases or fumes or other atmospheres immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH).
A dust mask is a flexible paper pad held over the nose and mouth by elastic or rubber straps for personal comfort against non-toxic nuisance dusts. They are not intended to provide protection from toxic airborne hazards. The European FFP1 mask, the lowest-grade mechanical filter respirator available in the jurisdiction, is also used as a dust mask.
A respirator fit test checks whether a respirator properly fits the face of someone who wears it. The fitting characteristic of a respirator is the ability of the mask to separate a worker's respiratory system from ambient air.
A respirator cartridge or canister is a type of filter that removes gases, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and other vapors from air through adsorption, absorption, or chemisorption. It is one of two basic types of filters used by air-purifying respirators. The other is a mechanical filter, which removes only particulates. Hybrid filters combine the two.
The National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) is a research center within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, devoted to research on personal protective equipment (PPE). The NPPTL was created in 2001 at the request of the U.S. Congress, in response to a recognized need for improved research in PPE and technologies. It focuses on experimentation and recommendations for respirator masks, by ensuring a level of standard filter efficiency, and develops criteria for testing and developing PPE.
The NIOSH air filtration rating is the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)'s classification of filtering respirators. The ratings describe the ability of the device to protect the wearer from solid and liquid particulates in the air. The certification and approval process for respiratory protective devices is governed by Part 84 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Respiratory protective devices so classified include air-purifying respirators (APR) such as filtering facepiece respirators and chemical protective cartridges that have incorporated particulate filter elements.
The respiratory protective devices (RPD) can protect workers only if their protective properties are adequate to the conditions in the workplace. Therefore, specialists have developed criteria for the selection of proper, adequate respirators, including the Assigned Protection Factors (APF) - the decrease of the concentration of harmful substances in the inhaled air, which to be provided with timely and proper use of a certified respirator of certain types (design) by taught and trained workers, when the employer performs an effective respiratory protective device programme.
Respirators, also known as respiratory protective equipment (RPE) or respiratory protective devices (RPD), are used in some workplaces to protect workers from air contaminants. Initially, respirator effectiveness was tested in laboratories, but in the late 1960s it was found that these tests gave misleading results regarding the level of protection provided. In the 1970s, workplace-based respirator testing became routine in industrialized countries, leading to a dramatic reduction in the claimed efficacy of many respirator types and new guidelines on how to select the appropriate respirator for a given environment.
An N95 respirator is a particulate-filtering facepiece respirator or elastomeric filter that meets the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) N95 classification of air filtration, meaning that it filters at least 95% of airborne particles that have a mass median aerodynamic diameter of 0.3 micrometers under 42 CFR Part 84. This standard does not require that the respirator be resistant to oil; two other standards, R95 and P95, add that requirement. The N95 type is the most common particulate-filtering facepiece respirator. It is an example of a mechanical filter respirator, which provides protection against particulates but not against gases or vapors. An authentic N95 respirator is marked with the text "NIOSH" or the NIOSH logo, the filter class ("N95"), and, for filtering facepiece respirators, a "TC" approval number of the form XXX-XXXX, the approval number. All N95 respirators, regardless of type, must be listed on the NIOSH Certified Equipment List (CEL) or the NIOSH Trusted-Source page, and it must have headbands instead of ear loops.
Mechanical filters are a class of filter for air-purifying respirators that mechanically stops particulates from reaching the wearer's nose and mouth. They come in multiple physical forms.
Elastomeric respirators, also called reusable air-purifying respirators, seal to the face with elastomeric material, which may be a natural or synthetic rubber. They are generally reusable. Full-face versions of elastomeric respirators seal better and protect the eyes.
A supplied-air respirator (SAR) or air-line respirator is a breathing apparatus used in places where the ambient air may not be safe to breathe. It uses an air hose to supply air from outside the danger zone. It is similar to a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), except that SCBA users carry their air with them in high pressure cylinders, while SAR users get it from a remote stationary air supply connected to them by a hose.
A breathing apparatus or breathing set is equipment which allows a person to breathe in a hostile environment where breathing would otherwise be impossible, difficult, harmful, or hazardous, or assists a person to breathe. A respirator, medical ventilator, or resuscitator may also be considered to be breathing apparatus. Equipment that supplies or recycles breathing gas other than ambient air in a space used by several people is usually referred to as being part of a life-support system, and a life-support system for one person may include breathing apparatus, when the breathing gas is specifically supplied to the user rather than to the enclosure in which the user is the occupant.
