Respiratory Protection Program

Policy Statement

All Dartmouth faculty, staff, or students who wear a respirator, either due to College policy or by personal choice (see Voluntary use section of the Program), must do so in accordance with this Program and must inform Environmental Health and Safety of their activities. No one is to purchase or use respiratory protection for potentially hazardous airborne contaminants without EHS oversight and approval.

Scope of Policy

A respirator is any device intended to protect the user from airborne contaminants and/or oxygen-deficient environments. The selection and proper use of respiratory protection are critical components of achieving the desired result of exposure control. Significant information must be known about the contaminants and the environment in which respirators will be used to provide adequate protection. Some of this information includes:

1. General use conditions, including determination of contaminant(s);

2. Physical, chemical, and toxicological properties of the contaminant(s);
3. Odor threshold data;
4. The smallest of the Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL), Recommended Exposure Limit (REL), and Threshold Limit Value (TLV) exposure limits
5. Immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) concentration; No Dartmouth employee should ever enter an atmosphere that is known to be IDLH. If an atmosphere becomes IDLH after entrance, it must be evacuated immediately and not re-entered until the IDLH atmosphere is no longer present.
6. Eye and skin irritation potential; and
7. Any service life information available (for cartridges and canisters).