COVID-19 pandemic: New video details qualitative fit testing procedures
Washington — A new video is aimed at helping organizations – particularly those in health care – understand the qualitative fit testing process.
In the 54-minute video, Roy McKay, fit testing expert and professor emeritus with the Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences at the University of Cincinnati, provides step-by-step procedures for two OSHA-approved fit testing protocols in accordance with 1910.134 Appendix A.
Among the other subjects McKay covers are donning and doffing the respirators, how to prepare nebulizers and how to avoid common mistakes when using them, and employer requirements for recording fit test results.
In a temporary enforcement guidance memo on respirator fit testing issued March 14 by OSHA, the agency calls for the implementation of strategies from itself and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for “optimizing the supply of N95 filtering facepiece respirators and prioritizing their use.”
Among the strategies is the use of qualitative fit testing for N95 respirators, because it’s a “nondestructive method” compared with quantitative fit testing.
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