OHD Blog

In March 2018, after a five-year process involving more than 60 countries, a brand new international safety and occupational health standard, ISO, was published. The standard works to set a new benchmark in worldwide occupational safety by providing effective, real-world solutions for worker safety. On a global scale, the new ISO standard will continue to shape the health and safety profession and directly impact how all organizations manage their health and safety programs through hazard controls and risk reduction.

Work is dangerous, and industrial hygienists know that danger is not a finite resource—it has to be stamped out wherever it’s found. When workers are protected and respirators fit correctly, your workers live longer, healthier lives. 

But to ensure proper fit-testing, you need a plan and the right tools. The problem is that fit-testing can be hard, frustrating, and expensive. There are four main problems people face while fit-testing respirators:

Each time you use your sound level meter, it should be calibrated using an acoustic calibrator. This can help you ensure that your instrument is measuring correctly and that you are complying with the requirements of any standards, regulations or guidelines that you are working to.

Fit-testing has changed over the years. For a while, there was only one accepted technology and method for testing the fit of masks. Those processes have changed (for the better) as we provide an OSHA and ISO-approved method for fit-testing. Our patented controlled negative pressure (CNP) technology lets you perform a simple fit test in only 3 minutes!

When making measurements to estimate the noise exposure of a person at work, you need to ascertain the equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level (LAeq) that represents the noise the person is exposed to during the working day. You also need to ascertain the maximum C-weighted peak sound pressure level or levels to which the person is exposed.

If your organization is like most, you rarely conduct a one-off fit test. Instead, you block out several days/weeks out of the year to test every respirator, every required employee in your organization. Efficient testing is critical because you are pulling essential people out of their normal job and...

Here at OHD, we strive to provide exceptional customer service for you and your employees. Whether it be fit testing, noise monitoring programs or any of our other safety products, we have deemed it our goal to inform, guide and protect you all along the way.

It is respirator fit-testing season. You have only a few days to test several hundred employees and their equipment. You are pulling essential personnel out of the field and inefficiencies in your testing process are expensive. And, if we’re honest, no one is all that happy about having to be there. But respirator testing is a mandatory investment of time and resources, essential to the safety of your employees. You want the maximum return on your investment, in terms of process efficiency, improved results and lower costs. After years of helping clients conduct thousands of respirator fit tests, two factors determine the success of fit-testing programs...

Click Here to download the complete ROI analysis whitepaper.

Anyone performing a US Department of Transportation (DOT) mandated breath alcohol test must be trained as a Breath Alcohol Technician (BAT) and individuals performing non-DOT regulated testing are encouraged to do the same. The BAT candidate must understand and demonstrate proficiency in using the alcohol testing protocol detailed in 49 CFR Part 40 and the training must be in accordance with the DOT Model BAT course.

You never know where you might be and what you might be doing when you need a tight fitting mask that has a proper seal. That is where the people on the Island of Hawaii found themselves last Friday when the Kilauea volcano began erupting with yellow and red lava and spewing orange fires with white smoke. But it is the unseen danger that is most crucial to be aware of - sulfur dioxide gas. This type of gas has been said to be an immediate threat to life for all who become exposed.