Measurement of protection factors of chemical cartridge, half-mask respirators under working conditions in a copper smelter

Abstract

The performance of three commonly used chemical cartridge respirators for S0₂ was measured under working conditions in a copper smelter. An effective SO₂ protection factor for each man-respirator trial was calculated as the ratio between average S0₂ concentrations sampled outside the respirator mask and that simultaneously sampled from inside the mask. The in-use SO₂ protection afforded by the three respirators proved to be highly variable with mean protection factors of 22, 18, and 13. The distributions of the protection factors and the effects of mask type, facial size, and mask comfort are discussed.