Respirator/ breathing mask problems in plating & anodizing shops

A. The answer should be to simply advise the operator that the respirator is ineffective because of the beard situation, and present him with alternatives: shaving, not wearing a respirator, wearing it for the very limited good it does, wearing a hood with batteries and taking responsibility to change the batteries, etc.

But a large part of the purpose of OSHA is to provide jobs for bureaucrats, so you're not going to win. Your inspector will not settle for the respirators; suck it up and buy the PAPR :-)

A. Hello Dave,

We've had a similar issue here, as I for one, wear a goatee. We used full-face respirators for our fit test, and when we shaved, we got it as "tight" as possible to the chin. The full face respirators seal a bit lower (under the chin) than the half-masks, in my experience. We were all able to pass the fit test. I doubt any filtering respirators would work if your man has a full beard.

As far as determining IF respirators are necessary, you might want to check with a local college. We've had one come out, several years ago (free of charge) and they do air monitoring, and a safety inspection of the plant. The downside of this being, you are required to address any problems they find, or they may report to OSHA. They had us all wear monitoring equipment on our belts, and the test results came back showing we did not need to wear respirators on the line (we are very well ventilated).

A. Dave

In the hierarchy of safety measures, wearing a respirator is a last resort.

The plant should be engineered so that the operator does not need PPE.

For an anodising plant, this usually means adequate local extract ventilation and nothing more.

I cannot recall ever seeing a respirator used routinely on a plating/anodising line in Europe or those I have visited in US except for tank make up/maintenance, and usually not even then.

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Marc's and Geoff's answers were better than mine because they're right that the operators probably shouldn't need to be wearing respirators in the first place. Unlike Geoff, however, I have been in plating plants (in particular, cadmium plating shops) where wearing a respirator at all times was the rule. A 3-hour visit there was a minor misery; I definitely wouldn't want to work anywhere that a respirator is required constantly.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2007

A. I have been a certified industrial hygienist for about fifteen years. The law does not allow anyone to fit test air purifying respirators (cartridge type) with a person who has any kind of facial hair coming between the face and the respirator -- period. Anyone who does a fit test with someone with facial hair, such as a goatee, with a respirator that relies on a chin seal is breaking the law and putting the health of the person who is fit tested like that in jeopardy.

For a proper respirator program, the employer has to do an exposure assessment. This looks at the chemicals that employees may be exposed to and arrives at some idea of what the air concentration might be. That usually leads to exposure measurements. Once the exposure level is obtained, the person doing the evaluation can determine what type of respirator is needed. Half faced respirators have applied protective factors of 10, so they can be used to up to ten times the occupational exposure limit (OEL); full faced respirators are allowed 25 times the OEL. It isn't that hard to do - you just need someone with the proper motivation.

So, my advice is to do an exposure assessment, properly determine what respiratory protection, if any, is needed and if a respirator is needed, then shell out the $700 for that employee. In the long run, respiratory protection can be cheaper than compensation claims.

Hi, Michael. Thanks. Respiratory protection may be cheaper than compensation claims, but unfortunately it still may be beyond the point of economic sustainability. Further, I'm not sure that we have sound evidence that there won't be compensation claims for health damage caused by continuous and prolonged wearing of respirators anyway :-(

Again, though, respirators usually aren't required if the tanks are properly ventilated, so you and Geoff are clearly right that a monitoring program should precede a decision to implement a respirator program.

Regards,

A. Hi Yoann. We appended your inquiry to an earlier thread on the subject which hopefully answers it. Your tanks should have local ventilation, and then you should do exposure testing, and only then should you consider using respirators.

This is a technical response, of course, and does not cover possible legal issues in the Philippines where your regulations may differ from ours. We need to remember that USA laws are USA laws; they re neither world laws, nor necessarily more technically sound than others.

Regards,

A. I'm sure if you brush the beard with petroleum jelly as a sealing agent Allah and the health and safety executive will be pleased. Hair goes brittle with muriatic acid vapours.