How important is it to choose the right respiratory protection equipment?

The employer is obliged to provide employees with protective equipment that could properly fulfill its functions, it should:

• meet ergonomic requirements, take into account the health condition of the employee and meet the conditions prevailing at the workplace,
• be properly selected for the existing threat.
• be adjusted individually to the user.

Type of filtering and absorbing equipment

In the discussed case, it will be a filtering half-mask with a layer of non-woven fabric containing active carbon with appropriate absorption capacity, meeting the requirements of EN 149: 200 + A1: 2009.

The main factor influencing the choice of equipment is the concentration of the aerosol at the workplace and thus the hazard recognition. This is related to the determination of the type of pollutants and the measurement of their concentrations and determination of the maximum values ​​occurring during the working day in a given work environment. These measurements should be related to the TLV value, because the protection class of the equipment depends on the number of times the TLV is exceeded.

Filter equipment can be divided into three classes:

• Class P1 - equipment with low protective effectiveness - protects the respiratory system against aerosols, the concentration of the dispersed phase of which does not exceed 4x NDS.
• Class P2 - equipment with medium protective effectiveness - protects the respiratory system against aerosols whose dispersed phase concentration does not exceed 10x NDS.
• Class P3 - equipment with high protective effectiveness - protects the respiratory system against aerosols whose dispersed phase concentration does not exceed 20 x NDS.

Marking filtering half masks

The marking consists of the following symbols:

• FFP1, FFP2, FFP3 - mean first, second and third protection class;
• NR - means single-use equipment;
• R - means reusable equipment;
• D - means that the product meets the clogging requirements.

Additionally, it contains information on:

• dated European standard number,
• manufacturer's model designation,
• identification of the manufacturer, supplier or importer.