Quantitative Fit Testing of Respirators

The Health and Safety Authority “A Guide to Respiratory Protective Equipment” covers the practical aspects of RPE Facepiece Fit Testing.

The performance of tight-fitting facepieces depends on achieving a good contact between the wearer’s skin and the face seal of the facepiece.  As people come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, it is unlikely that one particular type, or size of RPE facepiece, will fit everyone.

Quantitative fit testing using a Portacount unit gives an objective numerical measure of the fit of the respirator in the form of a number.

This number is referred to as the fit factor and is a measure of how well a particular facepiece seals against the wearer’s face.  The higher the fit factor, the better the seal that is achieved with the Respirator against the wearer’s face.

Quantitative fit testing can be conducted with all types of tight-fitting facepieces from Disposable Respirators through to Full Face Masks.

Quantitative Fit Testing (QNFT) offers the following advantages over the Qualitative Fit Testing (QLFT) methods used to date.

• No Limit to the Fit Factor which can be achieved
• Precise & Faster Method
• Hard Copy Documentation of Test Fit signed by the Employee
• Impossible to deceive the Portacount Unit

Quantitative Fit Testing eliminates the subjectivity of Qualitative Fit Testing as the determination of the Fit Factor it is not affected by a person’s sense of smell, taste or sensitivity to irritant chemicals.

One of the most appreciated aspects of QNFT is that the employee cannot deceive the test operator, as often happens with QLFT.

Qualitative Fit Testing is not technically suitable for determining the high fit factor level required for Full Face Respirators and cannot be used for these products.