OSHA has updated its Respiratory Protection Directive, which cancels and replaces the previous directive. It provides guidance to OSHA national, regional and area offices for performing compliance inspections involving OSHA’s Respiratory Protection Standard, 29 CFR 1910.134. The instruction also serves to inform individuals, industry, employee and worker groups, state programs other other federal agencies of OSHA’s policies and procedures for implementing intervention and inspection programs to reduce or eliminate workplace exposure of hazardous airborne substances.  States that run their own program must have accessible enforcement policies and procedures in  place that are at least as effective as those in the new instruction.

The new OSHA Directive, CPL-02-00-158, includes the following significant changes:

• Updates for definitions for assigned protection factors and maximum use concentrations;
• Greater clarification on voluntary respirator use and better explanations to components of compliant respirator programs along with additional acceptable methods to assess respiratory hazards;
• New information related to the revised Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) at 29 CFR 1900-1200.  The revised HCS aligned OSHA’s standard with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS);
• New guidance on evaluating the need for respiratory protection for chemicals used in the workplaces by referring to employers’ Hazard Communication Programs, where chemical manufacturers may have communicated on safety data sheets that use of their products may be hazardous if inhaled and have recommended that users wear respiratory protection.

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