Fit Testing
Where daily airborne exposure to lead exceeds 50 µg/m3, affected workers must don respirators before entering the work area and should not remove them until they leave the high-exposure area or have completed a decontamination procedure.
Employers must assure that the respirator issued to the employee is selected and fitted properly to ensure minimum leakage through the facepiece-to-face seal.
Fit testing is a procedure used to determine how well a respirator "fits"-that is, whether the respirator forms a seal on the user's face. Before any employee first starts wearing a respirator in the work environment, the employer must perform a respirator fit test. For all employees wearing negative or positive pressure tight-fitting facepiece respirators, the employer must perform either qualitative or quantitative fit tests using an OSHA-accepted fit testing protocol. In addition, employees must be fit tested whenever a different respirator facepiece is used, and at least annually thereafter.
If an employee has difficulty in breathing during a fit test or while using a respirator, the employer must make a medical examination available to that employee to determine whether he or she can wear a respirator safely.
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3-6. What action must an employer take if an employee has difficulty in breathing during a respirator fit test?
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