Occupational health: Respiratory protection in the industry

Abstract

As our country progresses towards fully industrialised nation status by the year 2020, many workers are still unaware of the occupational hazards that they are exposed to day after day. The most common but yet critical occupational hazard is respiratory hazard. Hazardous contaminants in the air, if not properly filtered, can cause lung diseases and if absorbed into the bloodstream can result in damage to other organs in the body. The effects are always long-term and incurable. The key to an occupational health protection program can be summarised into 4 steps: (1) identification of the hazards, (2) understanding of the effects of the hazard on workers, (3) selection of the proper personal protective equipments, and (4) training of the workers in the proper use and care of the respirators. This paper is intended to focus and elaborate specifically on a respiratory protection program and how to manage it in compliance with regulatory requirements.