May 19, 2004—Preventing fatal accidents that can result from the improper use of air-line Respirators is the subject of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) latest Safety and Health Bulletin. Air-line respirators are typically used in painting, cleaning, and abrasive blasting work environments.
The bulletin includes discussion of five case histories in which workers died due to respirators being inadvertently connected to inert gas supplies. In addition to respiratory protection requirements, the bulletin provides recommendations to help employers and workers ensure proper procedures are followed when using air-line respirators.
Based on information obtained from OSHA investigation reports from 1984 through 1995 and more recently from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), OSHA determined that most worker fatalities involved regulatory and procedural violations and could have been prevented by proper training and compliance with existing regulations. A number of the deaths indicated that coupling compatibility problems and lax supervisory oversight were major factors in the inappropriate supply of non-respirable gas to the respirators worn by these workers.
OSHA regulation (29 CFR 1910.134(i)(8)) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard Z88.2, “Practices for Respiratory Protection” specify that respirator air-line couplings must be incompatible with outlets for other gas systems to prevent inadvertent servicing of air-line respirators with non-respirable gases or oxygen.
