If the face mask's not right, you could be liable
July 1st 2009 BSRIA Instrument Solutions can
help employers to meet their legal
responsibilities to ensure that staff 's
Respiratory Protective Equipment is
appropriate, safe and properly used.
The company recommends the
simplest way to do this is to arrange a
'fit test' conforming to the
appropriate Protocol HSE282/28.
BSRIA Instrument Solutions gives
independent advice on fit testing as
well as hiring out or selling the
equipment needed to complete a
testing programme. Using automatic
monitoring equipment made for the
purpose, an employee wearing a face
mask is tested in seven different
modes: with normal breathing, with
heavy breathing, with the head to one
side then the other, with the head up
and down, bending over and talking
aloud. The simple tests can take as
little as fifteen minutes.
According to BSRIA Instrument
Solutions an ill-fitting mask is worse
than useless since it increases
confidence without providing
protection. Even facial stubble can
cause leaks and seriously reduce a
mask's efficiency, as testing will show. More articles from BSRIA Instrument Solutions Limited: | 
