NIOSH's Respiratory Protection Week to Feature Two New Webinars

NIOSH plans to host its second annual Respiratory Protection Week next month, Sept. 8–11, 2020. The event started last year as an expansion of the agency’s annual N95 Day, which NIOSH began hosting in 2012. N95 Day primarily focused on N95 respirators and was created to raise awareness about the importance of respiratory protection. This September, NIOSH will draw attention to respiratory protection by hosting webinars and highlighting its informational products using social media.

Registration is already open for two NIOSH webinars that will be held during Respiratory Protection Week. On Sept. 8, “The Top Ten Frequently Asked Questions About Respiratory Protection” will feature a panel of NIOSH experts addressing topics such as respirator use in healthcare settings, use of expired respirators, fit-testing, and carbon dioxide buildup in respirators. Two days later, “How to Spot a Counterfeit! Understanding the Misrepresentation of NIOSH Approval” will focus on how to identify NIOSH-approved respirators and signs that a respirator might be a counterfeit.

For more information, visit NIOSH’s Respiratory Protection Week page. A separate NIOSH page outlines the history of respiratory protection.

Related: The September 2019 digital edition of The Synergist features a special supplement that discusses the development of a new voluntary standard for ensuring the proper fitting of respirators.