NIOSH: N95 Day 2015

 

Note: This is day 4 of National Preparedness Month.  Follow this year’s campaign on Twitter by searching for the #NatlPrep hash tag.  This month, as part of NPM15, I’ll be rerunning some updated  preparedness essays, along with some new ones.

 

#10,487

 

Over the past 12 months the proper use of personal protective equipment (PPEs) – like N95 respirators (and gloves, gowns, eye protection, etc.) – have gotten a good deal of attention, what with the surge in Ebola cases, sporadic MERS outbreaks, and the introduction of HPAI H5 viruses into North American poultry.

 

The experts in protective equipment are the folks at the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) which is part of The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and each September they celebrate National N95 Day (usually on 9/5 but this on 9/4).

 

Although we deal primarily on the medical arena in this blog, there are thousands of industrial and non-medical applications that require PPEs, and so knowing the right equipment for each job, and how to use them, are skills important to the health and safety of a lot of people.

 

First, a link to, and some excerpts from, today’s N95 day festivities, and then I’ll return with a bit more:

 

Recognize N95 Day on September 4, 2015 - A day earlier, but another year wiser

N95 Day, A NIOSH-Approved Holiday

Our focus this year is to equip you with the necessary tools to provide and/or practice proper respiratory protection when the use of N95 filtering facepiece respirators is necessary.

It’s our 4th on the 4th!

It’s here! Today is our 4^th annual N95 Day. You can learn about our activities for the day here as well as on the NIOSH Science Blog.

We have got a LOT going on this year on our social media channels. Please check us out on Twitter (@NIOSH, @NPPTL, #N95Day) Facebook, Instagram (new!), and Pinterest as well as our annual N95 Day NIOSH Science Blog article.

Webinar - Hospital Respiratory Protection Programs: New Resources For Implementation

Registration Closed – The recorded presentation will be linked on this web page after the live presentation.

New Resources

From OSHA and CDC/NIOSH

Hospital Respiratory Protection Program Toolkit
This toolkit was developed to assist hospitals in developing and implementing effective respiratory protection programs, with an emphasis on preventing the transmission of aerosol transmissible diseases (ATDs) to healthcare personnel.

From the Joint Commission

Implementing Hospital Respiratory Protection Programs: Strategies from the Field
Protecting workers from exposure to all types of respiratory hazards is an important issue for hospitals and other healthcare organizations. In order to address this often overlooked danger, The Joint Commission and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) have collaborated to develop a new educational monograph designed to assist hospitals in implementing their respiratory protection programs (RPPs).

(BIG SNIP)

We know that life is busy. Work is even busier. If N95s are part of your workplace respiratory protection program, please take some time on September 4 to focus on your safety and get to know NIOSH and the resources we provide.

We hope respirator users will look forward to the festivities as we tout our N95 resources through the channels of Facebook, Twitter, and the NIOSH blog once again. To take part in the day, mark N95 Day on your calendar for September 4h and keep an eye on your social media.

Follow @NPPTL  and @NIOSH  on twitter (#N95Day) and as well as on the NIOSH facebook page.

(Continue . . .)

 

Over the past year I’ve featured a number of blogs on the proper use of PPEs.  For those who may have missed them, or wish a refresher, a few highlights:

 

NIOSH Science Blog: Not All Isolation Gowns Tested Met Standards

APIC: Most HCWs Are Removing PPEs Improperly

BMJ Open: Protectiveness (Or Lack, Thereof) Of Reusable Cloth Medical Masks

CDC Ebola Guidance: Web Based PPE Training

CDC: Updated Interim PPE Guidance For HCWs Dealing With Ebola

UNMC: The Complex Procedures To Don & Doff PPEs For Ebola