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Select and Service Life
Application
Respirator Selection
Contaminants
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Disclaimer
Welcome to 3M Select Software Version:
3.2
WARNING:
This program expires on January 1, 2014.
This software must be used for guidance purposes only and the products selected should not be used in circumstances Immediate Danger to Life or Health (IDLH) or oxygen deficient environments. Workplace conditions vary from one worksite to another. The information in this site is intended only as a guide. Selection of the most appropriate respiratory protective equipment (RPE) will depend on the particular situation and should be made only by a competent person knowledgeable of the actual working conditions and the limitations of RPE.
This Respirator Selection Guide provides information on designated 3M products that may be suitable when using 3M Negative Pressure respirators for nearly 700 chemicals. The selector includes Workplace Exposure Limits (WELs) for these substances and some of their properties. The WELs listed in this Guide are from the HSE publication: EH40/2005 unless otherwise stated. If a chemical is not listed in EH40/2005, the Threshold Limit Values (TLV) published in the 2007 American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) has been used. If there is no published ACGIH TLV available, the 2007 Workplace Environmental Exposure Levels (WEEL) from the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) has been used.
For substances not assigned a WEL, EH40/2005 states that: the absence of a substance from the lists of WELs does not indicate that it is safe. In these cases exposure should be controlled to a level to which nearly all the working population could be exposed, day after day at work, without adverse effects on health. In some cases there may be sufficient information to set a self-imposed working standard.Substances which have been assigned a WEL fall in to two broad groups.
No respirator is capable of preventing all airborne contaminants from entering the breathing zone of the wearer. Respirators help protect against certain airborne contaminant concentrations in the breathing zone to below the Threshold Limit Value (TLV) or other recommended exposure level. Misuse of respirators may result in overexposure to the contaminant and cause sickness or death. Proper respirator selection, training and use are mandatory in order for the wearer to be properly protected. Use these respirators only for those specific compounds for which they have been approved or recommended.
No respirator is capable of preventing all airborne contaminants from entering the wearers breathing zone. RPE helps protect against airborne contaminants by reducing airborne contaminant concentrations in the breathing zone to below the WEL or other recommended exposure level. Misuse of respirators may result in over exposure to the contaminant and cause sickness or disability. For this reason, proper respirator selection, training, use and maintenance is required for the wearer to be properly protected.The COSHH Regulations 2002 and associated Approved Code of Practice requires employers of wearers of tight fitting facepieces to conduct a fit test to check the adequacy of the fit of that respirator to the wearer. Tight fitting facepieces include maintenance free particulate respirators, half and full face masks with filters. Wearers of tight fitting facepieces should always be clean shaven. Air-filtering or purifying respirators do not supply oxygen, they simply filter out contaminants. RPE suggested by this selector should not be used when concentrations of contaminants are immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH), when concentrations are unknown, when concentrations exceed maximum use concentrations or in atmospheres containing less than 19.5% oxygen. If you have any questions relating to the selection and use of 3M respirators, call the 3M Health and Safety Helpline on 0870 60 800 60 in the UK, or 1800 320 500 in Ireland.
