respirator remains as effective as it was when new. All respiratory-protection maintenance programs should include at least the following:
- inspection for physical damage or defects
- replacing and disposing of used filter elements as necessary
- cleaning and disinfecting (as indicated by hospital infection control procedures)
- repair
- proper storage (i.e., clean, disinfected respirators placed in a sealed container and stored in a dry, noncontaminated environment).
6. Surveillance of the Health-Care Facility and Exposures of Workers in Health-Care-Facilities: Because air sampling methods for airborne concentrations of droplet nuclei are not currently available, exposures of health-care-facility workers cannot be quantified. However, efforts should be made to periodically evaluate the work environment for changes in ventilation, isolation procedures, work practices (such as frequency of entering AFB isolation rooms), and other factors that may affect the probability of exposure to droplet nuclei. These assessments must be conducted in addition to the Admission Screening Plan discussed in section V.B starting on page 37. Information collected from these surveillance activities should be used to determine if the personal respiratory protection program is effective.
7. Respirator Selection: NIOSH recommends that for all exposures to droplet nuclei, the respirator and respiratory protection program selected should offer efficacy and reliability of protection equal to or exceeding that specified in Table 3 starting on page 40. All such respirators should be NIOSH-certified (79,80).
