Use, maintenance, cleaning and storage

A respirator that was correctly selected and fit-tested can still fail because it was worn wrongly, left dirty, stored crushed in a toolbox or used with a cracked valve. Daily use and care are where most programs succeed or fail, and they are largely in the hands of supervisors and workers. This lesson covers how respirators should be worn and removed, when workers must leave the contaminated area, and how respirators are cleaned, inspected, repaired and stored. It also covers training, which ties the daily practices together.

Wearing a respirator correctly

Every program should have a written donning procedure based on the manufacturer's instructions. The common steps for a tight-fitting elastomeric respirator are: inspect it; position the facepiece over the nose and mouth (or the whole face for a full facepiece); fasten the head harness or straps in the order the manufacturer specifies, starting with the crown straps; tighten the straps evenly without over-tightening; and perform positive and negative pressure seal checks. For filtering facepieces, the metal nose clip must be moulded with both hands to the shape of the nose; pinching it with one hand creates a sharp bend and leaks.

The respirator must stay on for the entire time the worker is in the contaminated atmosphere. Lesson 1 showed how quickly short gaps erode protection. Practices that undermine wear time include pulling the mask down to talk on a radio, wearing the straps over a hard hat brim, letting a filtering facepiece hang around the neck between tasks so that contaminated surfaces touch the inside, and removing the respirator in the work area to drink or wipe sweat.

Workers must be allowed and expected to leave the contaminated area when they need to wash their face or respirator, change filters or cartridges, or when they notice vapour breakthrough, a change in breathing resistance or leakage of the facepiece. CSA Z94.4 sets out these expectations, and the respirator must be repaired or replaced before the worker returns.

Removing a contaminated respirator

Removal, called doffing, matters because the outside of a used respirator is contaminated. Workers should leave the contaminated area first, remove other protective equipment in the planned order, then remove the respirator by the straps without touching the front, and wash their hands. For highly toxic dusts, asbestos and infectious agents, doffing is part of a formal decontamination procedure, often in a designated area, and is covered in HSE-242, HSE-245 and HSE-246.

Cleaning and disinfecting

Reusable respirators must be cleaned and disinfected regularly. Sweat, skin oils and contaminants on the facepiece cause skin irritation and degrade rubber and silicone, and a dirty respirator worn by a second worker can spread infection. Cleaning should follow the manufacturer's instructions or a recognized procedure.

CSA Z94.4 expects respirators to be cleaned as often as needed to keep them sanitary, and shared respirators to be cleaned and disinfected before use by another person. Respirators used for fit testing and emergency respirators should be cleaned after each use.

Avoid solvents, alcohol wipes used aggressively, high temperatures and harsh disinfectants unless the manufacturer approves them. They can crack or distort facepieces, harden valves and break down the elastic in straps. Filters and cartridges must never be washed.

Inspection

Respirators are inspected before each use, during cleaning and, for emergency respirators, on a fixed schedule. A good inspection checklist covers every part of the respirator.

Emergency respirators, such as SCBA kept for rescue and escape respirators, need a documented periodic inspection. CSA Z94.4 and manufacturers generally call for at least monthly inspection of SCBA held for emergency use, with records of the date, inspector and findings.

Repairs and parts

Respirators that fail inspection must be removed from service and discarded, repaired or adjusted. Repairs and adjustments must be made only by people appropriately trained, using only the manufacturer's NIOSH-approved parts designed for that respirator. Regulators, reducing valves and alarms on supplied-air respirators and SCBA must be adjusted or repaired only by the manufacturer or a technician trained by the manufacturer. Improvised repairs, such as taping a cracked facepiece or substituting a valve from another brand, void the approval and can create hidden leaks.

Storage

Respirators must be stored so that they are protected from damage, contamination, dust, sunlight, extreme temperatures, excessive moisture and damaging chemicals, and packed or stored so that the facepiece and valves do not become deformed. A clean, sealed bag or container in a locker is typical. Storing a respirator loose in a toolbox, on a dashboard, hanging from a nail in the work area, or with the facepiece folded flat will damage it and contaminate the inside.

Emergency respirators must be stored where they are accessible to the work area, in compartments or covers clearly marked as containing emergency respirators, and in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. Escape respirators should be located along escape routes and checked so that workers know where they are.

Training

Training is what turns written procedures into everyday practice. It must happen before a worker first uses a respirator, be repeated periodically, and be refreshed when conditions or respirators change or when a worker's behaviour shows they have not retained it.

CSA Z94.4-18 expanded the classes of initial and routine training and clarified the supervisor's role. Supervisors need training too, because they enforce use, notice problems and support the program. Many Canadian programs combine refresher training with the periodic fit test.

Supervising daily practice

Supervisors see respirator practice every day, so their habits set the standard. A few simple routines catch most problems: a quick look at respirators at the start of each shift, a check that cartridges carry the date they were installed, a glance at storage lockers once a week, and attention to workers who keep adjusting or lifting their respirators, which usually signals poor fit, discomfort or heat strain. When a supervisor sees a problem, the response should be immediate and practical: send the worker to clean, refit or replace the respirator before returning, and record anything that points to a program weakness, such as a model that many workers find uncomfortable. Supervisors who wear respirators themselves whenever they enter a respirator area send a stronger message than any poster.