NIOSH to Study Fit of Respirators Worn Over Beard Bands

NIOSH is inviting respirator manufacturers, NIOSH approval holders, and beard band manufacturers to collaborate to determine how well respirators protect workers with facial hair. This project will assess whether workers who secure their facial hair using elastic beard bands can provide clean, smooth sealing surfaces for NIOSH-approved filtering facepiece respirators and particulate-only elastomeric half-mask respirators.

A notice published in the Federal Register on July 25 explains that OSHA’s respiratory protection standard (29 Code of Federal Regulations 1910.134) prohibits employees from wearing respirators with tight-fitting facepieces if they have facial hair that disrupts the seal between their skin and the respirator facepiece. Without a tight seal between the respirator and the wearer’s face, OSHA-compliant fit testing is not possible. “Organizations, interest groups, and entities representing workers with facial hair who cannot shave because of religious, cultural, medical, or other reasons” have asked NIOSH to research the fit of respirators when wearers use beard bands to improve the seal of their respirators, the notice states. This project will provide data supporting NIOSH and OSHA policy regarding the use of beard bands with respirators. Holders of NIOSH respirator approvals may use the results to request approval for the use of beard bands as part of respirator configurations.

Parties interested in collaborating with NIOSH must submit a letter of intent by Sept. 23, 2024. More information on NIOSH’s “Fit Testing of Respirators on Those Wearing Beard Bands” project, including criteria for participants, may be found in the Federal Register notice.