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in the workplace will use some type of air purifying respirator. They are also known as "particulate respirators" because they protect by filtering particles out of the air as you breathe. These respirators protect only against particles—not gases or vapors. Since airborne biological agents such as bacteria or viruses are particles, they can be filtered by particulate respirators.
- Air purifying respirators can be divided into several types:
- Disposable or filtering facepiece respirators, where the entire respirator facepiece is comprised of filter material. This type of respirator is also commonly referred to as an "N95" respirator. It is discarded when it becomes unsuitable for further use due to excessive breathing resistance (e.g., particulate clogging the filter), unacceptable contamination/soiling, or physical damage.
- Surgical respirators are a type of respiratory protection that offers the combined protective properties of both a filtering facepiece respirator and a surgical mask. Surgical N95 respirators are certified by NIOSH as respirators and also cleared by FDA as medical devices which have been designed and tested and shown to be equivalent to surgical masks in certain performance characteristics (resistance to blood penetration, biocompatibility) which are not examined by NIOSH during its certification of N95 respirators.
- Reusable or elastomeric respirators, where the facepiece can be cleaned, repaired and reused, but the filter cartridges are discarded and replaced when they become unsuitable for further use. These respirators come in half-mask (covering the mouth and nose) and full-mask (covering mouth, nose, and eyes) types. These respirators can be used with a variety of different cartridges to protect against different hazards. These respirators can also be used with canisters or cartridges that will filter out gases and vapors.
- Powered air purifying respirators, (PAPRs) where a battery-powered blower pulls contaminated air through filters, then moves the filtered air to the wearer’s facepiece. PAPRs are significantly more expensive than other air purifying respirators but they provide higher levels of protection and may also increase the comfort for some users by reducing the physiologic burden
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