Representing the 2003 U.S. Civilian Workforce

Ziqing Zhuang¹, Bruce Bradtmiller², John Odencrantz³, and Ronald Shaffer¹

¹National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, Pittsburgh, PA

Tel: +1-412-386-4055 Fax: +1-412-386-6864 e-mail: ZAZ3@CDC.GOV

² Anthrotech, Yellow Springs, OH 45387, USA

³ National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Division of Respiratory Disease Studies, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA

ABSTRACT

The respirator fit test panels currently used are 25-subject panels, developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The LANL panels are based on data from the 1967 and 1968 anthropometric surveys of U.S. Air Force men and women. Military data do not represent the great diversity in face size and shape seen in civilian populations. In addition, the demographics of the U.S. population have changed over the last 30 years. Thus, it is necessary to assess and refine the LANL fit test panels. This paper presents the development of new respirator fit test panels representative of the current U.S. civilian workers.

An anthropometric survey of 3,998 respirator users was conducted in 2003 and the data were used to develop the new fit test panels. Two fit test panels were developed using the LANL approach and weighting subjects to match the age and race distribution of the U.S. population as determined from the 2000 census. The first panel was developed with cells based on face length and face width and the second panel with cells based on face length and lip length. The third panel was developed using the first three principal components obtained from a set of six facial dimensions (age- and race-adjusted) that have been shown to be associated with respirator fit and leakage. Respirators designed to fit these panels are expected to accommodate more than 95% of the current U.S. civilian workers. The boundaries of the new panels are significantly different from the LANL panels indicating the need for new respirator sizing systems. The panel based on face length and face width is recommended for testing both half-mask and full-facepiece respirators.