Page 18 - Occupational Health & Safety, November 2017

RESPIRATORY PROTECTION
What’s Next for Powered Air Respirators
The powered air respirator market is ripe for innovation and technological enhancements.
BY RICK MARQUEZ
Wow—as I write this article, they have just announced the new iPhone ‘X’ for about $1,000.00. When I think back on how communication tools have changed over the years, it makes me recall my early days in business with pagers and stopping at the side of the road with a pocket full of change to return calls. At the time, I wondered how my predecessors did business without a fax machine, and now, here I am today with a mobile phone with more memory than my first 10 computers’ hard drives combined!
The technology revolution of phones and hand- held connected devices of today amazes me. Who would have ever thought the speed of innovation and technology could liberate individuals and enable new services/products globally in such a short time. Our lives have been transformed to safer, more efficient, and more connected places.
The PPE market has certainly changed signifi- cantly over the years! There is a long history of per- sonal protection, from the early days of animal parts and hides to the sophisticated materials and designs used today. The role of PPE in North America and the world’s workforce have continued to expand, improve, and drive positive results.
With more than 1 million U.S. workplaces and millions and millions of workers and even hobbyists needing respiratory protection, the respirator could be said to be the most important type of PPE and cer- tainly one of the most technical components of PPE. Millions of North American workers can’t get through the day without some type of respiratory protection to protect themselves from particulates, gases, and va- pors, plus who knows what’s next.
Respiratory protection has been around since ear- ly in the 1st century, if not earlier, in one shape or an- other. In fact, the ancient Romans developed the use of animal bladders to protect against harmful dusts— can you imagine that? As the centuries went on, the need for workers to be protected from dusts, mists, vapors, and fumes continued to expand. Miners, stone cutters and masons, glass makers, factory workers, and many other jobs required respiratory protection. In the mid-1800s, the first cupped respirator with a one-way valve and moistened wool filter media was patented, and the respirator as we know it was born. With the advent of the industrial age, more exotic manufacturing materials and job functions arrived, requiring further enhanced products and protection.
As OSHA arrived in the United States in the early 1970s, employers had to take on a much more critical
18 Occupational Health & Safety | NOVEMBER 2017
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and proactive role in protecting workers. With new types of workplaces, we had to address new types of issues and situations. So, what types of respirators do employers have to pick from today to properly protect workers? Respiratory protection is broken down into two main categories and, without going into too much detail, they include:
Air Purifying
■ Includes particulate protection and Gas and Vapor Protection, most commonly N95 Disposables or Air Purifying Dual Cartridge Respirators
Air Supplying
■ PAPR: Powered Air Purifying Respirators
■ Supplied Air: Continuous Flow Respirators
■ Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus for IDLH
and super-heated environments
Where We Are Today
So where does that leave us today?
Of course, the most popular, most accessible,
lowest-price-point protection comes from APRs, with N95 disposables leading the way. Why? Probably be- cause they are simple and most small employers don’t really know how to or want to deal with a full respirator program, and disposable APRs “seem” to be the easi- est and most cost-effective option. The word “seem” is in quotes because without a well-managed respirator program and sufficient employee training, disposables can become an “expensive habit,” provide inadequate protection, and become very difficult to manage.
Here in 2017, most respirators still have a similar- ity to that original patented product from the 1800s. While filter media have improved and plastics and other materials for facepieces have evolved somewhat, we really haven’t seen anything that is really that dif- ferent in many years. However, while this has been a low-innovation product category, we see a spike each year in the number of brands of respirators available.
CLEANSPACE TECHNOLOGY