This part applies if a licensee assigns or permits the use of respiratory protection equipment to limit intake of radioactive material.
A licensee must use only respiratory protection equipment that is tested and certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), except as otherwise noted in this part.
If a licensee wishes to use equipment that has not been tested or certified by NIOSH, or for which there is no schedule for testing or certification, the licensee must submit an application to the commissioner for authorized use of the equipment, except as provided in this part. The application must include evidence that the material and performance characteristics of the equipment are capable of providing the proposed degree of protection under anticipated conditions of use. This must be demonstrated by licensee testing or on the basis of reliable test information.
A licensee must implement and maintain a respiratory protection program that includes:
air sampling sufficient to identify a potential hazard, permit proper equipment selection, and estimate doses;
testing of respirators for operability and user seal check for face sealing devices and functional check for others immediately prior to each use;
written procedures regarding:
storage, issuance, maintenance, repair, testing, and quality assurance of respiratory protection equipment;
a determination by a physician that an individual user is medically fit to use the respiratory protection equipment:
either every 12 months thereafter or periodically at a frequency determined by a physician; and
fit testing, with a fit factor greater than or equal to 10 times the APF for negative pressure devices and a fit factor greater than or equal to 500 for any positive pressure, continuous flow, and pressure-demand devices, before the first field use of tight fitting, face-sealing respirators and periodically thereafter at a frequency not to exceed one year. Fit testing must be performed with the facepiece operating in the negative pressure mode.
A licensee must advise each respirator user that the user may leave the area at any time for relief from respirator use in the event of equipment malfunction, physical or psychological distress, procedural or communication failure, significant deterioration of operating conditions, or any other conditions that might require such relief.
A licensee must consider limitations appropriate to the type and mode of use. When selecting respiratory devices, a licensee must provide for vision correction, adequate communication, low temperature work environments, and the concurrent use of other safety or radiological protection equipment. A licensee must use the equipment in such a way as not to interfere with the proper operation of the respirator.
Standby rescue persons are required whenever one-piece atmosphere-supplying suits or any combination of supplied-air respiratory protection device and personnel protective equipment are used from which an unaided individual would have difficulty extricating himself or herself.
The standby persons must be equipped with respiratory protection devices or other apparatus appropriate for the potential hazards.
The standby rescue persons must observe or otherwise maintain continuous communication with the workers, by voice, visual, signal line, telephone, radio, or other suitable means, and be immediately available to assist them in case of a failure of the air supply or for any other reason that requires relief from distress.
A sufficient number of standby rescue persons must be immediately available to assist all users of this type of equipment and to provide effective emergency rescue if needed.
Atmosphere-supplying respirators must be supplied with respirable air of Grade D quality or better as defined in "Commodity Specification for Air G-7.1," Compressed Gas Association (1997), as included in Code of Federal Regulations, title 29, section 1910.134. Grade D quality air criteria include:
A licensee must ensure that no objects, materials or substances, such as facial hair, or conditions that interfere with the face-facepiece seal or valve function and that are under the control of the respirator wearer are present between the skin of the wearer's face and the sealing surface of a tight-fitting respirator facepiece.
In estimating the dose to individuals from intake of airborne radioactive materials, the concentration of radioactive material in the air that is inhaled when respirators are worn is initially assumed to be the ambient concentration in air without respiratory protection, divided by the assigned protection factor. If the dose is later found to be greater than the estimated dose, the corrected value must be used. If the dose is later found to be less than the estimated dose, the corrected value may be used.
29 SR 755
March 12, 2009
Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes