Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) must be obtained and used for all hazardous products used by a contractor.  Sample MSDSs for portland cement, a sealant, and a solvent containing paint illustrates the kind of information provided, including general respirator recommendations and allowable exposure levels.

Reduce or eliminate exposures by using engineering controls such as ventilated tools or wet work methods. Ventilated tools can reduce exposures by a factor of 10 or more. Feasible exposure reduction is required even if respirators will still be needed. 

You must determine whether exposures at your jobs exceed allowable limits.  Exposure assessment must be done by a qualified person.  You may be able to to obtain assistance in measuring exposures from your State OSHA consultation service or from your contractor association. Published air sampling results show that air levels of silica when cutting or grinding cement often exceed allowable limits even when ventilation is used.

If respirators are needed, establish, update and follow a written, worksite-specific respiratory protection program. The program must be administered by a person with the appropriate training or experience and must specify how respirators will be selected, how workers will be medically evauluated, fit-tested and trained, and how the program will be regularly evaluated. For vapors and gases, a qualified person must establish a cartridge change schedule based upon the workplace contaminants and exposure levels. Some cartridge manufacturers provide an on-line calculator that estimates service life based upon workplace conditions.

Workers must be medically qualified to wear a respirator.  Determination of qualification must be made by a physician of other licensed health care provider (PLHCP). Medical qualification can be done through a local occupational medicine clinic. 3M offers an on-line medical qualification service.

The contractor must select the correct respirator and filter type for the task performed. Filters are available in three levels resistance to oils and three levels of efficiency.  The classification N means the filter is not resistant to oil; R means the filter resists oil, P means the filter is oil proof. A "P" or "R" filter must be used when oil mists are present.  Filters are rated at 95%, 99% or 99.97% efficiency.  99.97% efficiency filters are labled at 100. An N95 filter (commonly used in general construction) is acceptable if you only need  to remove 95% of particles in an oil free environment.  Higher rated filters are needed in more extreme situations.  Filter efficiency must also be factored in when calculating the maximum use level of a respirator.  For a half-face respirator with N95 filters the total leakage is caculated as 10% (around the facepiece) + 5%  (through the filter). Therefore the combination can only be used in atmospheres up to 6.67 times the exposure limit.

Routine construction site exposures to cement dust,  not including cutting, grinding or tuck pointing, may be controlled by an N95 filtering facepiece respirator if good work practices are followed. OSHA also specifically excludes filtering facepieces from use in asbestos control work. Many safety and health professionals assign filtering facepieces a protection factor of only 5 because they can not be as reliably fitted and checked as elastomeric half-face respirators. Surgical type masks are not designed for protection from workplace exposures and may not be a part of a construction respiratory protection program.  More intense dust exposures such as those resulting from tuck pointing, cement grinding or cutting, and extensive brick or block cutting is likely to require specific engineering controls and/or higher level respiratory protection.

For chemical cartridges, a qualified person must select the cartridge to use and establish a cartridge change schedule. To do this it is essential to know the nature and level of all contaminants that will or may be in the workplace air.  Work level, humidity and altitude will affect respirator selection and performance.  For painting tasks a filter-organic vapor cartridge may be required and a prefilter may also be used to limit filter overloading. Respirator manufacturers and suppliers can provide you with guidance on how to select the right respirator.

Workers must be fit tested for the respirators assigned to them. Qualitative fit testing is the easiest to perform but is only allowed for exposures up to 10 times the permissible exposure limit (PEL). The contractor may obtain fitting asistance from a local safety supply company or may conduct the tests inhouse using standard testing materials.

Workers must be trained in the use and limitations of respirators and on how to properly don and wear them. The worker must be informed of how the respirator will be stored and maintained.

Respirators that are used repeatedly must be properly stored and maintained.  Single use respirators, such as filtering facepieces, do not require maintenance.

The respiratory protection program must be supervised by a person having the appropriate experience or training.  Persons with a beard or other feature that interferes with a good fit may not be allowed to perform work requiring the wearing of a tight fitting respirator.  The contractor must document the periodic auditing of the program and must confer with respirator users about the program's effectiveness.

The contractor must maintain employee specific records of medical evaluation, fit testing and training.  The written respiratory protection program must be maintained and available for inspection by OSHA.

Note on the voluntary use of respirators.  Workers who are not overexposed may be allowed to wear a filtering facepiece with no additional control by the contractor. Voluntary use of any other type of respirator requires the contractor to institute those parts of a respiratory protection program necessary to determine the workers' medical ability to wear a respirator and to ensure that the respirator is properly cleaned, stored and maintained. The wearer must also be provided with a copy of Appendix D of 29 CFR 1910.134.