N95 Respirator for Airborne Infectious Disease CDC 2005
April 22nd, 2010 -- Posted in health protection information | 2 Comments »
Why is the CDC not requiring this protection for healthcare workers for the swine flu outbreak? Occupational exposures to airborne microbial agents such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi can cause illness in workers in a variety of settings, including health care, and emergency response. A procedure or surgical mask will NOT provide protection against airborne diseases such as Tb, SARS, measles or the expected pandemic flu. For more information and resources to aid workers and employers in reducing exposures to infectious aerosols, go to the NIOSH website on Infectious Aerosols at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/infectaero/ . Clipped from a 2005 CDC video on the epidemiological investigation of biological disease outbreaks.
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A surgical mask is not a respirator and that’s an important distinction for physicians and all healthcare workers to understand. Unfortunately many healthcare employers and Infection Preventionist do not understand this important fact. Several reports from the US Institute of Medicine (IOM) over the past few years have address this and related issues. For the details of this debate, go to the 2009 IOM report at http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2009/RespProtH1N1/H1N1%20report%20brief%20FINAL%20for%20web.ashx . It is important that healthcare employers and workers understand the significant differences between these two types of personal protective equipment. The decision whether or not to require workers to use either surgical masks or respirators must be based upon a hazard analysis of the workers’ specific work environments and the different protective properties of each type of personal protective equipment. Respirators are designed to reduce a worker’s exposure to airborne contaminants. Respirators come in various sizes and must be individually selected to fit the wearer’s face and to provide a tight seal. A proper seal between the user’s face and the respirator forces inhaled air to be pulled through the respirator’s filter material and not through gaps between the face and respirator. Surgical masks are used as a physical barrier to protect the user from hazards, such as splashes of large droplets of blood or body fluids. Surgical masks also protect other people against infection from the person wearing the surgical mask. Such masks trap large particles of body fluids that may contain bacteria or viruses expelled by the wearer. Surgical masks are not designed or certified to prevent the inhalation of small airborne contaminants. An OSHA video describing the differences is found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovSLAuY8ib8 . All workers have a right to a safe and healthful workplace. Whenever respiratory protection is required to be worn to protect from hazardous airborne contaminants, the employer is responsible for implementing a comprehensive respiratory protection program and providing an appropriate respirator, in accordance with OSHAs respiratory protection standard, 29 CFR 1910.134. This program must include training, medical evaluation, and fit testing. When workers must wear a respirator to protect against airborne contaminants in the workplace, it is very important to follow proper procedures for putting it on and taking it off. For more on this important issues for healthcare, go to the OSHA factsheet, Respiratory Infection Control:Respirators Versus Surgical Masks at https://www.osha.gov/Publications/respirators-vs-surgicalmasks-factsheet.html . This is clipped from the 2000 video Biological Warfare and Terrorism: The Military and Public Health Response produced by the Department of the Army and the Food and Drug Administration. The entire video has been digitized by the nonprofit Public.Resource.Org (http://public.resource.org/index.html ) in a cooperative agreement with the National Technical Information (http://public.resource.org/ntis.gov/index.html ) and is available at the Internet Archive at www.archive.com .
(Click CC for subtitles!)
(Click CC for subtitles!)
This clip is from the video, Attack of the Giant Toxic Hogweed, produced by the wonderful folks at WorkSafe BC and is one of many good health and safety videos that can be viewed and downloaded from on their website at http://www2.worksafebc.com/Publications/Multimedia/Videos.asp?ReportID=35133 . I ran into the hazards of Cow Parsnip while living and working in Alaska in the 1980s. Wish this video had been around then. Heracleum (the hogweeds) is a genus of about 60 species in the carrot family. They are found throughout the temperate northern hemisphere and in high mountains as far south as Ethiopia. Some species, especially the Giant Hogweed and Cow Parsnip, have saps that contain a phototoxin that can act on contact with skin and exposure to ultraviolet light (a part of sunlight), causing anything from a mild rash to a blistering, severe dermatitis, depending on the sensitivity of the individual. Giant Hogweed has become a serious invasive weed in many areas of Europe and North America and affecting workers whose job is to remove it. For more information protecting workers from on this and other toxic plants, go to the WorkSafe BC website at http://www.worksafebc.com/publications/health_and_safety/bulletins/toxic_plants/default.asp and the NIOSH website at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/plants/ .
Swine flu drill
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