Fitting the American Mug
Fitting the American Mug
One of our clients called to inquire about the meaning of this information in an article written by Jane Zhang titled Changing Faces: Respirator Testing Gets an Adjustment that appeared in The Wall Street Journal (April 4, 2007 ñ Vol. CCXLIX No.78) as it relates to dental laboratories. Here’s the information that April McDowell, training development director for SafeLink, formulated to explain the content of that article as it relates to dental labs.
The author interviews Les Boord, an engineer with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a federal agency dedicated to preventing workplace injuries and responsible for doing the research that is the precursor for the OSHA standards that we follow in the dental laboratory. The article basically states that the respiratory protection we use today was designed to provide a snug fit for the average face, however, the average faces used in the original designs were from the 1960ís and are not necessarily the same as the average American face in the new millennium. Boord states that his studies have shown “the face of America is getting fatter and longer.” Boord works in a 100-person laboratory that tests and certifies gas masks and other devices that protect workers from inhaling harmful dusts, vapors, mists and fumes in the workplace. Any respirator that you supply to your employees must be certified by NIOSH or it will not be considered approved protection and should you be inspected by OSHA, would not be considered as compliant.
Although the article states that it is difficult to pinpoint an average face in today’s work population, it does offer that Boord’s group is working with several manufacturers to develop new products that may accommodate the new, “American mug that has grown wider and more varied.”
What does this mean to the dental laboratory that has specific job tasks requiring the employee to wear a dust respirator for protection against silica exposure? It means a couple of things:
- You must keep a variety of respirators on hand from which the employees may choose. They must be approved by NIOSH and be rated for the appropriate protection, i.e., for silica dust you would choose a disposable N95 or N100 type respirator. If you cannot get a snug seal with the disposable variety, you would the try a molded face-piece respirator in various sizes. These are typically made of some type of rubber or silicone material and will be outfitted with a dust filter to meet the N95 or N100 criteria for total or nuisance dust protection.
- You must conduct fit-testing to ensure the employee is getting the proper fit to provide protection. Fit-test kits are available for purchase from safety supply companies, but according to OSHA’s Respiratory Protection Standard, 29CFR 1910.134, the fit-tester must be trained on the technique for fitting the respirator and conducting the test or to work under the supervision of a ‘competent person.’ SafeLink can help you with this training, if needed.
If you have an employee that cannot pass a fit test, does that mean you can use this article as a defense for not taking further protective action? Well, you already know the answer ñ of course not, but what do you do? The burden still falls on the employer’s shoulders to provide a safe workplace, so here are the most viable options:
- Provide engineering controls to remove the contaminant from the worker’s breathing zone and then conduct air sampling by an Industrial Hygienist to ensure the levels are below the OSHA standards.
- Change the products you are using to a safer alternative, something without the harmful ingredient.
- Move the worker to a different job where he/she no longer needs to wear a respirator.
So, the information does not give you an out for providing respirators due to the shape of the worker’s face, but does re-enforce the need for you to purchase a variety of masks to ensure proper fit. In Safelink’s experience with fit-testing dental technicians, we’ve found that the common varieties of disposable N-95 or N-100 respirators will fit the majority of the technicians. The main issue that we’ve dealt with when fit-testing is ensuring that the male workers have a clean-shaven face. Even that popular shadow of a beard is enough to impair the proper fit. Purchase several types by different manufacturers and various sizes. Good luck and call us if you need some assistance with selection of respirators.
