Study Protocol for Determination of an Assigned Protection Factor for Negative-Pressure Half-Mask High-Efficiency Respirators Using a Simulated Health-Care Workplace Test

摘要

The purpose of this project is to determine the assigned protection factor (APF)for certain respirators (namely half-mask high-efficiency air-purifying) which can be used in the health-care industry. This will be accomplished by conducting a simulated workplace facepiece fit (SWPF) test on these respirators. The SWPF test will be validated by comparing the protection afforded by a respirator as determined by an in-facepiece sampling method with a test subject's actual exposure. The actual exposure will be determined by measuring a biomarker vapor, chlorofluorocarbon-113 (CFC-113) in the subject's exhaled breath. Five different in-facepiece sampling methods will be compared in the SWPF test. The sampling method which has the highest correlation with the actual exposure will be used to determine the simulated workplace APF for half-mask high-efficiency air-purifying respirators which can potentially be used in the health-care industry.