Qualitative Fit Test Training

Respirator Safety USA will help you and your business meet your fit testing needs. We use the Allegro Saccharin qualitative fit test kit, and will train someone from your company on how to administer the test. They will receive an official certificate of completion once they complete their training. The cost of this training includes the cost of the kit. 

The Importance of Respirator Fit Testing

Regulatory Basis: The OSHA Respiratory Protection Standard (29 CFR 1910.134) requires fit testing of tight-fitting respirators before initial use. 

Why Fit Testing Matters

A tight-fitting respirator will only protect the user if a proper fit is obtained. Without adequate face-to-facepiece seal, a respirator cannot deliver its rated protection factor, leaving the wearer exposed to hazardous airborne contaminants—vapors, gases, and particulates—regardless of the respirator's quality or rating. 

The wearer must be certain of a proper fit and face seal prior to use. This is why 29 CFR 1910.134(f) mandates that any employee using a respirator with a negative or positive pressure tight-fitting facepiece must be fit tested with the same make, model, style, and size of respirator that will be used. 

Annual Testing Requirement

Per 29 CFR 1910.134(f)(1) and (f)(2), all personnel wearing tight-fitting facepieces must be either qualitatively or quantitatively fit tested initially and at least annually with the same make and model of respirators that they wear. This recurring requirement reflects the reality that fit assessment is needed periodically to ensure the fit continues to be acceptable as part of a respiratory protection program. Additionally, an additional fit test when facial changes have occurred that could affect the proper fit of the respirator is required, including examples such as weight loss, cosmetic surgery, facial scarring, and the installation of dentures or absence of dentures that are normally worn by the individual. 

Clean-Shaven Requirement

29 CFR 1910.134(g)(1)(i)(A) requires employers to prohibit respirators with tight-fitting facepieces to be worn by employees who have facial hair that comes between the sealing surface of the facepiece and the face. OSHA's Fit Testing Procedures (29 CFR 1910.134 Appendix A, Part I, Section A(9)) state that the test shall not be conducted if there is any hair growth between the skin and the facepiece sealing surface, such as stubble beard growth, beard, mustache or sideburns which cross the respirator sealing surface. 

However, it does not matter if hair is allowed to grow on other areas of the face if it does not protrude under the respirator seal; accordingly, mustaches, sideburns, and small goatees that are trimmed so that no hair underlies the seal of the respirator present no hazard and do not violate the standard.