Page 43 - OHS, January/February 2021

There are two main distinctions to be made between surgical N95s and industrial N95s. The first is that surgical N95s must be approved by the FDA. The second is that surgical N95s are tested for fluid resistance and biocompatibility to ensure that they do not cause any skin irritation or allergies.
Industrial N95 Respirators. Industrial N95 respirators are de- signed for use in industrial settings, such as metalworking, con- struction and mining. Industrial N95s are designed to reduce ex- posure against certain airborne particles and aerosols free of oil. These types of respirators do not require FDA approval, but do require it from NIOSH. Like surgical N95 respirators, industrial N95s must form a tight seal over the wearer’s mouth and nose in order to be most effective. Workers of industrial settings must have their N95s regularly fit tested as well, in accordance with the OSHA Respiratory Protection Standard.3
While surgical N95 respirators and industrial N95 respirators are similar in nature, their applications vary. During a crisis situa- tion, such as COVID-19 the use of industrial N95 respirators have been approved for use in non-surgical healthcare settings.
Conclusion
Identifying the differences between N95s and surgical masks can be difficult, but once you understand the fundamental features of each, it becomes clear when each should be used.
In this article, we’ve only scratched the surface of the various types of filtering facepiece respirators. With various protection lev-
els above 95 and masks that provide different levels of resistance to oil, respirator selection can get tricky.
Jeff Birkner is the VP of Technical Services at Moldex-Metric, Inc. and is a Certified Industrial Hygienist. He holds an M.S. degree in Environmental Health Sciences, a B.A. in biology from New York University and a Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences from UCLA. He received his Certification in Comprehensive Practice in 1987, and has been a member of AIHA since 1980. Jeff has more than 35 years of experience in the practice of Industrial Hygiene.
Chris Arey is the Product Marketing Specialist at Moldex-Metric, Inc. He spearheads the content creation process at Moldex and has over six years of technical writing experience across the PPE, regula- tory compliance, and healthcare policy industries.
REFERENCES
1. https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/personal-protective-equipment- infection-control/n95-respirators-surgical-masks-and-face-masks
2. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/ cloth-face-cover-guidance.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc. gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fprevent-getting-sick%2Fcloth- face-cover.html
3. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/ 1910/1910.134
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