Three New Notices Affect Certain NIOSH-Approved Respirators

Three announcements regarding NIOSH-approved respirators were recently added to the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) website. The notices have to do with certain NIOSH respirator approvals and a stoppage of sale of unapproved units of a NIOSH-approved N95 filtering facepiece respirator.

In one notice, NIOSH announced that it has honored the request of Aswan International Corp. to voluntarily rescind nine respirator approvals issued to the company. A second notice similarly states that NIOSH has honored the request of the company Makrite Industries Inc. to voluntarily rescind one of its respirator approvals. Respirators bearing the approval numbers listed in the agency’s notices are no longer NIOSH approved and may no longer be used, manufactured, assembled, sold, or distributed. The agency directs individuals to contact Aswan International and Makrite Industries regarding inquiries about the decisions to voluntarily rescind these approvals.

A stoppage of sale related to unapproved color variations for N95 filtering facepiece respirators manufactured and sold with the Mechanix Wear label was announced on Feb. 22. According to a safety bulletin (PDF) issued by Fido Masks Co., the company is investigating a nonconformance associated with these respirators, which bear the NIOSH approval number TC-84A-7792. The company’s communication provides information about the affected products, including part numbers, lot numbers, and manufacturing dates. Fido Masks states that it has addressed the issue at its production facility.

These and other recent respirator-related notices can be found on the NPPTL website.