N95 vs COVID-19

Written by: TL Peters

As an occupational safety & health professional of over 30 years, it is causing me great angst to watch what millions of people are doing. How easily and willingly they will follow the deadly advice of someone on TV (politicians, medical personnel and the media) who are not Safety professionals and who do not have the qualifications required to protect people from harm.

      Occupational Safety & Health Professionals are ignored and ridiculed on a daily bases because what we often do, when trying to protect someone from harm, is to require the alteration of either human behaviors and/or the alteration of a process within a company.

      However, we are the ones that dedicate our lives to building our knowledge and skill level to a point that will actually protect people.

      One of the areas that we are qualified to protect people from are biologicals and airborne contaminants. At this very moment, millions of people all across the Country are putting scarves (masks) on their faces and they actually believe that it will somehow protect them from the COVID-19 virus or prevent them from spreading the virus if they have somehow become infected.

      Here is what you need to know. Let’s consider another deadly substance – Asbestos. You see commercials on a regular bases from law firms asking if you have asbestosis or mesothelioma that is caused by the over exposure to asbestos.

      If an employee is required to wear a respirator to protect themselves from asbestos, a filtering facepiece (N95) is not allowed. That is because the N95, in a perfect setup, can only prevent 95% of the contaminate from entering the breathing zone. That means that 5% of the contaminate can still get through and that is only for contaminates that is .3 microns or larger.

This is directly from OSHA’s asbestos standard:

“1910.1001(g)(3)(i) - Select, and provide to employees, the appropriate respirators specified in paragraph (d)(3)(i)(A) of 29 CFR 1910.134; however, employers must not select or use filtering facepiece respirators for protection against asbestos fibers.”

“1910.1001(g)(3)(ii) - Provide HEPA filters for powered and non-powered air-purifying respirators.”

      OSHA defines an N95 as an “air-purifying negative pressure respirator equipped with an N95 filter.  If the filter is an integral part of the facepiece, or the entire facepiece composed of the filtering medium, the respirator is also considered a filtering facepiece respirator.”

https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/2011-11-22-0

      The diameter of the COVID-19 virus is .125 microns (asbestos fibers are .2 microns and smaller) which is much smaller than an N95 can filter out and even if it could filter out the virus, it could only filter out approximately 95% of the contaminant. However, since it cannot effectively filter out the COVID-19 virus, then it is possible that 100% of the virus will pass through the respirator.

      A contaminate - such as a virus that is smaller than the respirator is designed to filter – that is on the filter, when the individual inhales air, they will draw the contaminate into their breathing zone.

      Now consider a filtering system of a lesser efficiency (i.e., masks, scarfs and bandanas). A scarf or some sort of cloth material will have little to zero effectiveness preventing the virus from spreading.

      The only respirator - and this is the minimum level - that will be effective to protect someone from being infected by the COVID-19 virus is an elastomeric tight-fitting air purifying respirator with either a P, R or N 100 (HEPA) filter.

      And no one should attempt to wear one of these without being under the strict supervision and guidance of a skilled occupational safety & health professional.

      However, that type of respirator or any other respirator will not prevent an infected person that is wearing the respirator from spreading the virus. The expelled breath from the wearer of the respirator, passes easily through the exhalation port of the respirator, which can reach other people that is in the area or the contaminate can land on a surface. The exhalation port only seals to protect the wearer of the respirator from breathing in the contaminate when they inhale. The gasket that is inside of the exhalation port will open once the wearer exhales, or coughs or sneezes.

      As it relates to a mask or scarf, the aerosols that are breathed, coughed or sneezed out, which cannot be seen with your eyes, can easily pass though the material, and thus spread to others. Even though what we are now being told is the mask is to protect others around you if you have the virus. The demonstration that people (doctors) give to show how the mask works is by spraying water on one side of the mask, showing you the water droplets to not pass through the other side. Yes, it is possible that the make could possibly prevent the large droplets from passing through, but it does not stop the fine aerosols that cannot be seen by the human eye from passing through and the mask, regardless of what it is made out of, will not stop the virus itself from passing through.

      You also need to understand, if what the person  is wearing does not seal around their face, which a mask or scarf does not, when a person breaths, coughs or sneezes, the aerosols will be expelled around the outer edges of the mask or scarf, entering the air which could be breathed in by another person or it can land on a surface and contaminate that surface.

      As for protecting the person that is wearing the mask or scarf, since it cannot seal around their face, when they inhale, air, which could be contaminated with the virus, not only will easily pass through the material, but it will also travel into the breathing zone from the outer edges of the mask or scarf.

      Oh, and let’s throw this little twist into the mix. If the wearer of the respirator or mask has a beard, especially a large one, but basically any facial hair, then a respirator will not work at all, because the facial hair will prevent the respirator from properly sealing, if the respiratory was properly fitted to the wearer in the first place.

      Respirators are designed to protect the wearer of the respirator from inhaling contaminates. They are not and were not designed to protect another person from a contaminate that the wearer of the respirator may have and expel.

      So, you may be asking the question, “what can I do so that I do not become infected with the COVID-19 virus?” “How do I advise others?”

      First, if you or someone else is sick, no matter what the illness is, stay home or go to the hospital for treatment.

      Next, do something you and others should have been doing since childhood. Practice good hygiene.

      Really think about this and be honest with your answer. How often do you actually wash your hands each day? Taking into account if you actually wash your hands correctly. How many times?

      Viruses and germs are everywhere. They have been with us from the beginning of time.

      Keep in mind, our immune system successfully protects us from those viruses and germs, consistently every day. Yes, even the COVID-19 virus.

      That is unless our immune system is either shutdown or seriously compromised. I will write another article explaining what things you do that actually shuts down your immune system and what you can do to prevent that from happening.

      So, wash your hands often throughout the day. There are other viruses and germs that are always present and are just as harmful.

      Clean tools, equipment and other surfaces. How often?

      Always keep your tools and equipment clean. Not just for health reasons, but for safety reasons also. My Dad taught me as a young boy, “a dirty tool is a dangerous tool.”

      Clean your hard surfaces at the end of the day. The next day, if someone you do not know is around your hard surfaces and if you are unsure if they may have a virus (of any kind) or some type of germs, then clean the surfaces again after they leave.

      At that point any virus or germ – if it was there – is now dead and there is no need to clean it again, unless another unknown person enters again.

      Your next question may be, “what if we have unknown people coming and going constantly?” “How often do we clean the surfaces then?”

      Let’s say that you have a counter that people come to often. Before you or anyone with your organization touches the counter, clean it with a disinfectant wipe.

      Next, DON’T be rude. This means, don’t cough, sneeze, spit, yell or speak right into someone’s face.

      Finally, you have probably been placed in the position to require your personnel, including yourself to either wear an N95 respirator – which, by the way, requires you to fully comply with OSHA’s Respiratory Protection Program – or some type of mask. Neither of which will be effective as protection from this type of virus. (Reread the beginning of this article.) If you are thinking of wearing one outside of the working environment, again, reread the beginning of this article.

      As Occupational Safety & Health Professionals, we deal in factual data and science, and not in hearsay, fear and myths.

      If an N95 will not protect you from breathing in Asbestos, it will most certainly NOT protect you from breathing in the COVID-19 virus and neither will a mask, scarf or bandanna.

It is up to you and I to properly inform and to protect others.

Please contact me and ask me any questions that you may have.

I hope you found this information helpful and please share it with others.

Thank you again and as always.

Take care of yourself.