A
- Airline respirator
- An atmosphere-supplying respirator in which the respirable
gas is not designed to be carried by the wearer (formally
called supplied air respirators).
- Air-purifying respirators
- A respirator with an air-purifying filter, cartridge or
canister that removes specific air contaminants by passing
ambient air through the air-purifying element.
- Assigned Protection Factor (APF)
- The expected workplace level of respiratory protection
that would be provided by a properly functioning respirator
or a class or respirators to properly fitted and trained
users.
- Atmosphere-supplying respirator
- A respirator that supplies the respirator user with breathing
air from a source independent of the ambient atmosphere,
and includes supplied-air respirators (SARs) and self-contained
breathing apparatus (SCBA) units.
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C
- Canister or cartridge
- A container with a filter, sorbent, or catalyst or combination
of these items, which removes specific contaminants from
the air passed through the container.
- Certified
- Evaluated and listed as permissible by the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
- Contaminant
- A harmful, irritating or nuisance airborne material.
- Continuous flow respirator
- An atmosphere-supplying respirator that provides a continuous
flow of respirable gas to the respirator inlet covering.
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D
- Demand respirator
- A respirator for which maintenance is not intended and
that is designed to be discarded after excessive resistance,
sorbent exhaustion, physical damage or end-of-service-life
renders it unsuitable for use. Examples of this type of
respirator are a disposable half-mask respirator or a disposable
escape-only self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA).
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E
- End-of-service-life indicator (ESLI)
- A system that warns the respirator user of the approach
of the end of adequate respiratory protection, for example,
that the sorbent is approaching saturation or is no longer
effective.
- Escape-only respirator
- A respirator intended only for use during emergency egress
from a hazardous atmosphere.
- Exposure limit
- The maximum allowable concentration of a contaminant in
the air to which an individual may be exposed. These may
be time-weighted average, short-term limits or ceiling limits.
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F
- Filter or air-purifying element
- A component used in respirators to remove solid or liquid
aerosols from the inspired air.
- Filtering facepiece
- (dust mask) a negative pressure particulate respirator
with a filter as an integral part of the facepiece or with
the entire facepiece composed of the filtering medium.
- Fit check
- A test conducted by the wearer to determine if the respirator
is properly seated to the face.
- Fit factor
- A quantitative estimate of the fit of a particular respirator
to a specific individual, and typically estimates the ratio
of the concentration of a substance in ambient air to its
concentration inside the respirator when worn.
- Fit test
- The use of a protocol to qualitatively or quantitatively
evaluate the fit of a respirator on an individual.
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H
- Hazardous atmosphere
- An atmosphere that contains a contaminant(s) in excess
of the exposure limit or that is oxygen deficient.
- Hazard ratio
- A number obtained by dividing the concentration of a contaminant
by its exposure limit.
- Helmet
- A rigid respiratory inlet covering that also provides
head protection against impact and penetration.
- High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA)
- A filter that is at least 99.97 percent efficient in removing
monodisperse particles of 0.3 micrometers in diameter. The
equivalent NIOSH 42 CFR 84 particulate filters are the N100,
R100 and P100 filters.
- Hood
- A respiratory inlet covering that completely covers the
head and neck and may also cover portions of the shoulders
and torso.
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I
- Immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH)
- Any atmosphere that poses an immediate threat to life,
would cause irreversible adverse health effects or would
impair an individual's ability to escape from a dangerous
atmosphere.
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L
- Loose-fitting facepiece
- A respiratory inlet covering that is designed to form
a partial seal with the face.
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N
- Negative pressure respirator (tight fitting)
- A respirator in which the air pressure inside the respiratory
inlet covering is negative during inhalation with respect
to the ambient air pressure outside the respirator.
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O
- Oxygen deficient atmosphere
-
An atmosphere with an oxygen content of
less than 19.5% by volume.
- Oxygen-deficient IDLH atmosphere
- an atmosphere with an oxygen content below 16 percent
by volume at altitudes of 3,000 feet or below, or below
the oxygen levels specified in the following table for altitudes
up to 8,000 feet, or below 19.5 percent for altitudes above
8,000 up to 14,000 feet.
| Altitude above sea level |
Percent oxygen below which an oxygen deficient atmosphere
exists |
Percent oxygen below which an oxygen deficient IDLH
atmosphere exists |
| 0 to 3000 |
19.5 |
16.0 |
| 3001 to 4000 |
19.5 |
16.4 |
| 4001 to 5000 |
19.5 |
17.1 |
| 5001 to 6000 |
19.5 |
17.8 |
| 6001 to 7000 |
19.5 |
18.5 |
| 7001 to 8000 |
19.5 |
19.3 |
| Above 8000 to 14,000 |
(1) |
19.5 |
| (1) For altitudes above 8,000 feet,
an oxygen deficient IDLH atmosphere exists when the
oxygen level falls below 19.5 percent. |
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P
- Poor warning properties
- A substance whose odor, taste, or irritation effects are
not detectable or not persistent at concentrations at or
below the exposure limit.
- Physician or other licensed health care professional (PLHCP)
- An individual whose legally permitted scope of practice
(i.e., license, registration or certification) allows him
or her to independently provide, or be delegated the responsibility
to provide, some or all of the health care services required
by the OSHA Respiratory Protection standard (1910.134)
- Positive pressure respirator
- A respirator in which the pressure inside the respiratory
inlet covering is normally positive with respect to ambient
air pressure outside the respirator.
- Powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR)
- An air-purifying respirator that uses a blower to force
the ambient air through air-purifying elements to the inlet
covering.
- Pressure demand respirator
- A positive pressure atmosphere-supplying respirator that
admits breathing air to the facepiece when the positive
pressure is reduced inside the facepiece by inhalation.
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Q
- Qualitative fit test (QLFT)
- A pass/fail fit test to assess the adequacy of respirator
fit that relies on the individual's response to the test
agent.
- Quantitative fit test (QNFT)
- An assessment of the adequacy of respirator fit by numerically
measuring the amount of leakage into the respirator.
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R
- Respirator
- A personal device designed to protect the wearer from
the inhalation of hazardous atmospheres.
- Respiratory inlet covering
- That portion of a respirator that forms the protective
barrier between the user's respiratory tract and an air-purifying
device or breathing air source, or both. It may be a facepiece,
helmet, hood, suite or a mouthpiece respirator with nose
clamp.
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S
- Self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA)
- An atmosphere-supplying respirator in which the respirable
gas source is designed to be carried by the user.
- Service life
- The period of time that a respirator, filter or sorbent,
or other respiratory equipment provides adequate protection
to the wearer.
- Supplied-air respirator (SAR) or airline respirator
- An atmosphere-supplying respirator for which the source
of breathing air is not designed to be carried by the user.
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T
- Tight-fitting facepiece
- A respiratory inlet covering that is designed to form
a complete seal with the face. A half-facepiece (includes
quarter masks, disposable masks and masks with elastomeric
facepieces) covers the noise and mouth; a full facepiece
covers the nose, mouth and eyes.
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U
- User seal check
- An action conducted by the respirator user to determine
if the respirator is properly seated to the face.
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