Future trends

摘要

A QUICK ASSESSMENT of the current trends in respiratory protection might suggest that designers and manufacturers face market demands that are pushing their technologies in 2 opposing directions. The duty of care on all employers is to reduce hazards at source, ideally to levels where operators do not have to wear respiratory protective equipment (RPE) at all or where it is kept in reserve for emergency applications. Confined space working is a good example of how good pre-entry ventilation and atmosphere testing can remove the need for respiratory protection to be worn on entry. However, it is still wise to carry gas detection equipment (to warn of any change in the breathable atmosphere) and escape respiratory protection devices (in case something should go wrong). Here the design drivers are quick to don respiratory protection that carries its own air source and has limited escape duration.