N95 Respirator – Credit CDC PHIL
# 7633
As any disease geek knows, N95 masks are the preferred personal protective equipment (PPE) to wear when dealing with airborne infectious diseases. But protective N95 respirators are used in many occupational settings, not just healthcare.
Which is why NIOSH is working to help educate employers, workers, hobbyists - and anyone else who might need respiratory protection - on how, and when, to use N95 respirators.
Accordingly, NIOSH (the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health) had declared today, September 5th, as N95 DAY (get it? 9/5 for N95).
Today NIOSH will hold a N95 Day Webinar. While REGISTRATION IS FULL for the live webinar, a link to the recorded webinar will be made available.
Debunking the Myths Regarding N95 Respirator Use - Thursday, September 5, 2013
Also new for this year is a NIOSH publication:
Respirator Awareness: Your Health May Depend On It
Personal Protective Equipment for Healthcare Workers
One of the occupational hazards in the healthcare setting is the airborne transmission of certain infectious diseases. The potential of exposure is not limited to physicians, nurses, and support personnel in direct patient care. It extends to those delivering food, cleaning patient rooms, and performing maintenance. Anyone working in areas with patients infected with airborne-transmissible diseases is potentially at risk.
Respirator Awareness: Your Health May Depend On It
[PDF - 4.7 MB]
Last stop, the NIOSH Blog, where the festivities continue.
It’s September 5th! You know what that means….
Happy N95 Day to all users, manufacturers, educators, and general fans of N95 respirators!
Our anticipation has been high as we awaited this opportunity to bring the N95 respirator community together through awareness of educational materials promoting the proper use and selection of this piece of personal protective equipment. One of the main events of the day will be the webinar on Debunking the Myths of N95 Respirator Use. Due to the high demand, registration for this event has closed. But don’t worry – we will be posting the audio and slides of the presentation soon after the N95 Day event on the NIOSH National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory website.
As this is also National Preparedness Month, it is worth mentioning that having a box of N95 respirators tucked away in you disaster kit isn’t such a bad idea.
Of course, having a stash of N95s isn’t enough. You need to be fit tested, and learn how to don them, and take them off (see Survival Of The Fit-tested).
For more on the differences between N95 and surgical masks, particularly when dealing with infectious diseases, you may wish to look a a blog I wrote earlier this summer, The Great Mask Debate Revisited.
