Protect Your Employees from Workplace Hazards with Respirator Training

Respirators are one of the most effective methods of protection against a number of hazards in the workplace. However, in order to provide the highest level of protection and comfort, these devices must be properly selected, worn, and maintained.

Respirator training is the first step towards ensuring employees and employers are aware of the risks to health and life if a respirator is not worn and how and when a respirator should be used.

Why Are Respirators Important and How Do They Work?

There are two main types of respirators: atmosphere-supplying respirators, which provide the wearer with clean air from an uncontaminated source and air-purifying respirators which use cartridges, filters, or canisters to provide clean air by removing contaminants as you breathe.

Respirators can also be classified as loose-fitting or tight-fitting. If you are required to wear a tight-fitting respirator, you must be fit tested to ensure the mask fits tightly to your face. Any breaks or gaps in the seal could allow contaminated air to be breathed in.

What Can Respirators Protect Against?

Respirators are essential protection for employees who work in environments where oxygen levels may be insufficient or where harmful fogs, smokes, gases, dust, fumes, vapors, or sprays may be present. Without protection, there is a very real threat of serious health hazards developing such as:

• lung impairment,
• cancer,
• terminal diseases,
• or death

Respirators must be worn whenever and wherever regular workplace practice control and engineering measures do not provide adequate protection against contamination on the worksite. For example, if the confinement of contaminant-producing operations still results in an insufficient amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, employees must wear respirators. Even in areas where sufficient confinement measures are in place, employees should still be given the option to wear a respirator as an extra precaution.

The Respirator Fit Test
As mentioned above, the respirator fit test is used to ensure the correct fitting of a respirator mask. Fit testing is required in a number of different fields of work. One of the most common fields is the medical sector where employees must be protected against airborne viruses and diseases. There are two types of fit tests. Each should be undertaken every 2 years according to OSHA regulations.

• Qualitative: This type of fit test is the most common and covers most types of respirator masks. This test involves the taste sensitivity of the individual undergoing testing and can be used for any type of mask that does not have a dedicated air supply.
• Quantitative: This type of testing uses a piece of equipment called a Portacount machine to test the safety of the respirator mask via the fixed air supply.

Who Needs Respirator Training?

Respirator training is essential for any employee that is provided with a respirator by their employer. Employers should also undergo training so they understand how, when, and why a respirator should be used. They also need to know which type of respirator to provide to employees and how they can continue to keep employees safe by reviewing safety procedures and policies.

If your company is in need of respirator training, you can trust that RWLS Safety will help you and your employees become proficient in respirator usage. Call 570-404-8420 to get started today!

Certified OSHA Training Courses

Workplace safety is critical to the success of any business and especially in industries that are inherently more dangerous than others. For these industries, it is essential to have proper safety training and certifications in place at the operations level. This is especially the case for the Petrochemical, Oil and Gas industries for both onshore and offshore operations.

The requirement for Certified OSHA Training Courses including PEC Training is not only based on federal law but on the industry standards for safe operations specific to the Petrochemical and Oil and Gas industries and the basic and core compliance training that provides businesses with the tools to keep their employees and their facilities safe and successful.

OSHA Safety Training Classes

PEC Training is essential to an effective safety program because it provides critical insight and knowledge to the industry standards and safety issues in the petrochemical, oil and gas industries including upstream, downstream, onshore, or offshore. The industry’s leaders require their operations staff to complete this training because it ensures an awareness level for industry risks including confined space, rigging, and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Additionally, the PEC offers valuable training in other risk areas including fall protection, safety reporting and record-keeping, substance abuse in the workplace, emergency response, offshore transportation and safety, and many other areas that are critical to a comprehensive and effective safety program in the petrochemical, oil and gas industry.

Certified OSHA Training Courses are of critical importance for both the employer and the employee to maintain safe operations and successful business strategies. By requiring an employee to complete basic and core compliance training with OSHA training, the employer is able to demonstrate their safety program is designed in a way that ensures their workplace operations are compliant with state and federal labor and environmental laws because employees are competent and trained in safety standards specific to their job duties. An employee that has completed the required PEC and OSHA training is better equipped to safely and efficiently perform their job duties, promoting a safer work environment and strong company performance.

Basic and core compliance training must be considered critical to an organization’s business strategy because it ensures that all business operations are compliant with federal requirements and industry standards. The risks of non-compliance include significant fees and fines at the federal and state level for both OSHA and environmental agencies, the inability to be competitive in the market, and an ineffective workforce that is ill-equipped to perform their job duties.