N95 Respirators

Many funeral homes and crematories provide disposable N95 particulate respirators for their employees to wear for protection from bioaerosols such as the coronavirus, TB, and others. After experiencing the pandemic, N95 respirators were common place, not only in the workplace, but in public as well. However, OSHA's compliance requirements regarding these disposable N95 respirators are often misunderstood by funeral homes and employers in general. These devices are considered "respirators" by OSHA as opposed to the common "dust mask" or "surgical mask". This is an important distinction. This means that an employee must be a participant in the funeral home's respiratory protection program which includes medical approval, annual fit testing, and annual training among others. Even if you don't have a respiratory protection program, as the employer, you still have obligations to ensure employees who choose to wear these N95 respirators voluntarily. Don't make the mistake of thinking these are "dust or surgical" masks, they are not. For more information, please read further within OSHA's respiratory protection standard, 1910.134. Contact us at www.ecolomed.com, if you would like to learn more how we can help with your overall OSHA compliance effort.