Respiratory protection may be necessary if inhalation hazards exist in your work environment that cannot be mitigated with engineering controls or improved work practices. The SFSU Respiratory Protection Program is designed to protect employees and students by establishing accepted practices for assessing respiratory hazards and selecting, using and caring for respirators.
Quick Links
- Respiratory Protection Written Plan (Coming Soon)
- Voluntary Respirator Use Acknowledgment form
- Request a Respirator form (Coming Soon)
Respiratory Protection Program
The Respiratory Protection Program outlines the requirements and the University’s procedures for using respiratory protection in a safe and effective way that is compliant with applicable Cal/OSHA regulations. To wear a respirator to protect against contaminants or simply a dust mask to make dusty or smelly tasks more comfortable, users must do so in accordance with the respirator program.
Key Parts of the Program
EH&S will conduct a respiratory hazard evaluation, either for the general work environment or for a specific task. Based on the hazard evaluation, EH&S will determine if respirator use is required or voluntary. Sometimes EH&S will decide not to recommend respirators because exposures can be mitigated with other controls or work practices.
You may also be part of an existing user group that has established required respiratory protection for certain work tasks.
Users will receive training on the hazards, limitations and capabilities of the respirators assigned, and how to properly inspect, use, clean and store them.
Frequency: Annual
Medical clearance is required before you can wear a respirator. Wearing respirators can put additional stress on the heart and lungs, and may cause some to feel anxiety or claustrophobia.
Frequency: Annual
Fit testing is a quantitative or qualitative test performed by EH&S or a vendor to determine if a specific make, model and size of respirator fits your face. Specifically, this test verifies that a mask doesn’t leak and provides adequate protection.
- If you are required to wear a tight-fitting respirator (e.g., N95 or half-face or full face elastomeric respirator), you must be fit tested.
- Facial hair may interfere with a tight-fitting respirator’s seal; you must be clean-shaven in order to effectively wear these respirators.
- Loose-fitting respirators (e.g. powered air-purifying respirators) require hands-on training instead of a fit test.
If you are required to use a respirator, you must be trained and fit tested every 12 months.
Frequency: Annual
Important Program Elements
Per Cal/OSHA, voluntary use of a respirator is allowed when all of the following conditions have been met:
- An employee requests a respirator even though the use of one is not required by the employer.
- A Cal/OSHA standard does not require one and the employer has determined that its use is not necessary to protect the health of the employee.
- It will not in itself create a hazard.
Dust Masks
Filtering facepiece respirators (disposable“dust masks”). When it comes to voluntary use of these types of respirators, Employers must still provide employees with the information in 8 CCR Section 5144, Appendix D,"Information for Employees Using Respirators When Not Required".
At SF State, this is the Voluntary Respirator Use Acknowledgement form.
- Download this form, read it and sign at the bottom.
- Give it to your supervisor or designated department staff for their files. You may keep a copy for yourself.
- Review pre-use fit check procedures for your specific brand of dust mask.
Half-Face, Full-Face and Other Respiratory Types
Procedure
- Download, read and sign the Voluntary Respirator Use Acknowledgement form.
- Complete an employee medical evaluation and approval to wear a respirator as instructed.
- Get EH&S approval to wear the respirator at work and provide a copy of the signed Acknowledgement form.
- Attend your supervisor's or trainer's review of procedures for cleaning, storing and maintaining respirators.
Recognize airborne chemical and particulate exposure hazards, and contact the Respiratory Program Administrator if you believe that respiratory protection may be needed.
Fill out the Respirator Request Form to request respirator authorization for your user group. Update this anytime the work or hazards changes.
- Take the training that will be provided to your user group, even if you will not wear a respirator yourself
- Ensure employees are medically cleared before using a respirator
- Ensure employees complete their training and fit testing annually.
- Allow your employees to do their medical clearance, training and fit testing during paid work time
- Enroll any new employees who will be required to wear respirators
- Purchase all required respiratory protection equipment
Submit your medical clearance form confidentially to EH&S or as instructed by the vendor and complete the Annual Medical Clearance form (included during your fit testing) every year
- Attend training that is assigned to you
- Complete your annual fit testing or hands-on training before your 12-month authorization expires
- Only use the make, model and size of respirator that you were fit-tested on
- Use your respirator safely and within the bounds of its limitations
- Maintain your respirator appropriately, changing cartridges and cleaning it when required
- Notify your supervisor of any problems with your respirator or if the hazards in your workplace change
- Hazard assessments, including site visits
- Exposure assessments, where needed
- Respirator selection, including identifying correct cartridges and establishing a change-out schedule
- Training
- Fit testing
Contact the Respiratory Program Administrator for assistance with the respirator program.
Frequently Asked Questions
First, talk to your supervisor. (This may be your faculty advisor or PI.) If he or she already has authorization for respirators to be used for the work you are doing, you can be added to the user list and start the enrollment process.
If your supervisor doesn’t have an existing group for the work you’re doing or if your exposures might be different, he or she must contact the Respirator Program Administrator. Fill out a Respirator Request Form to enroll your group or yourself in the program. EH&S will help you determine if respirators are the right choice, and if so what kind.
Note: The Respirator Request Form is under development.
Required Use
Required Use is where one of the following situations have occurred:
- EH&S has determined that your exposure to a specific airborne contaminant is likely to exceed an established Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL), established by law to protect worker health.
- Your supervisor or department has chosen to require respiratory protection as part of a specific job task.
- Your supervisor tells you to wear a respirator while performing a task.
Voluntary Use
For Voluntary Use, no respiratory hazards have been identified that would overexpose an individual, and respirator use isn’t required as a department policy. Individuals may choose to wear a respirator as a precautionary measure or for a specific chemical-sensitivity. If these are filtering facepiece respirators (like dust masks), no enrollment in the respiratory program is required.
- Voluntary users must inform their supervisor they want to wear a respirator on a voluntary basis, must review and sign the Voluntary Respirator Use Acknowledgement Form.
- Users must use the respirator according to manufacturer’s instructions and report any problems with use.
It is important for users to know what a certain type of respirator can and cannot protect against.
Purchasing your own respirator to use at work is limited to comfort or as a precaution for personal medical issues.
You may not use your own respirator to protect against hazardous gases, fumes, dusts, aerosols, or other respiratory hazards in the workplace without enrolling in the full respirator program.
Personal or Medical Use: If you purchase a respirator for personal reasons or due to a medical issue, you may wear it at work and are not required to enroll in the full respirator program. However, if wearing it may cause a workplace health or safety issue, EH&S may require you to review the Voluntary Respirator Use Acknowledgment form and could impose some restrictions to protect the employee/user.
A doctor’s note may be required to wear tight-fitting air purifying respirators, such as half-face and full-face models, at work for comfort or medical use. The breathing-resistance due to the cartridges can cause health issues for the wearer. A signed Voluntary Respirator Use Acknowledgment form is required for approval. Contact the Respiratory Program Administrator do discuss your personal situation.
Credit: A special thanks to the University of Washington for their respiratory protection program website that served as a model for this web page.