3M Respirator Selection Guide

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;

1. If a substance has been assigned a WEL and has been assigned a risk phrase R42 or R42/43. or listed in section C of the HSE publication ‘Asthmagen; critical assessments of the evidence for agents implicated in occupational asthma’, or any other substance which the risk assessment has shown to be a potential cause of occupational asthma and those defined as a carcinogen or mutagen for the purpose of COSHH; including those assigned one of the risk phrases R45, R46 or R49 or are included in the list of substances and processes of schedule 1 of COSHH (Amendment) Regulations 2002 the employer must ensure that the control measures are in place to reduce the exposure as far below the WEL as is reasonably practicable.
2. For all other hazardous substances that have been assigned WELs employers should achieve adequate control of exposure by inhalation by applying principle of good practice by ensuring that the WEL is not exceeded. The principles require that the measures to control exposure are proportionate to the health risk from the substance.

A respirator may not be able to protect against all of the contaminants present in a particular work environment. Specific limitations are stated on the packaging and are included with the user instructions and limitations. These must be carefully reviewed before use for each respirator.

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.