Respirators are designed to protect the user from breathing air contaminated with dusts, fumes or other harmful substances. Filtering facepieces, commonly called dust masks, are one type of respirator. These masks, which always have two straps, meet certain standards. If the mask has only one facepiece and is not marked with N95 or a NIOSH approval number, it is a nontoxic particle respirator – not useful for much other than cleaning your garage. Nontoxic particle masks do not offer any effective level of protection against contaminated air.
Respirators, including filtering facepieces (two-strap dust masks), are only useful if they fit correctly. If they don’t, contaminants will leak in.
The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently released a poster on how to put on and take off filtering facepieces (disposable respirators). It’s available in both English or Spanish. While the poster’s focus is on health care providers (which is why the respirator is blue and the poster emphasizes handwashing), its basic points apply to all users.
If you have questions about respirators, respirator programs, fit testing or other safety related questions, please call us at 651-481-9787.