Background: Availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) and its effective use may influence safety climate perceptions among health care personnel (HCP). It is unclear how health care organizations can leverage the effective use of respiratory protection to engage in continuous improvement of their safety climate, which can inform opportunities for employee education and engagement. Methods: After using an elastomeric half mask respirator (EHMR) as their primary form of respiratory protection for several months, 1,080 HCP provided feedback in an electronic survey about respiratory protection training, confidence in EHMR use, barriers during use, and perceived safety climate. Ordinal logistic regressions were used as nonlinear models to test relationships between these variables. Findings: We observed that an increase in user confidence ( p < .013), training content ( p < .001), training formats ( p < .001), and a decrease in EHMR barriers ( p < .001) were associated with a statistically significant increase in proactive safety climate. In the second model, an increase in user confidence ( p < .006) and training content ( p < .001), and a decrease in barriers ( p < .001), was associated with a statistically significant increase in compliant safety climate. Conclusions/Application to Practice: HCP EHMR confidence was positively associated with safety climate perceptions, underscoring the value of competency building by respiratory protection leaders prior to implementation. Because fewer barriers experienced while using an EHMR were associated with a more positive perception of safety climate, it is important to first communicate with end users about potential barriers and, second, to continue research with end users and manufacturers to improve the design of EHMRs moving forward.

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Federal regulations require refuge alternatives (RAs) in underground coal mines to provide a life-sustaining environment for miners trapped underground when escape is impossible. A breathable air supply is among those requirements. For built-in-place (BIP) RAs, a borehole air supply (BAS) is commonly used to supply fresh air from the surface. It is assumed that the fresh air has an oxygen concentration of 20.9%. Federal regulations require that such a BAS must supply fresh air at 12.5 cfm or more per person to maintain the oxygen concentration between 18.5% to 23% and carbon dioxide level below the 1% limit specified. However, it is unclear whether 12.5 cfm is indeed needed to maintain this carbon dioxide level. The minimal fresh air flow (FAF) rate needed to maintain the 1% CO2 level will depend on multiple factors, including the number of people and the volume of the BIP RA. In the past, to predict the interior CO2 concentration in an occupied RA, 96-hour tests were performed using a physical human breathing simulator. However, given the infinite possibility of the combinations (number of people, size of the BIP RA), it would be impractical to fully investigate the range of parameters that can affect the CO2 concentration using physical tests. In this paper, researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) developed a model that can predict how the %CO2 in an occupied confined space changes with time given the number of occupants and the fresh air flow (FAF) rate. The model was then compared to and validated with test data. The benchmarked model can be used to predict the %CO2 for any number of people and FAF rate without conducting a 96-hour test. The methodology used in this model can also be used to estimate other gas levels within a confined space.

Federal regulations require refuge alternatives (RAs) in underground coal mines to provide a life-sustaining environment for miners trapped underground when escape is impossible. A breathable air supply is among those requirements. For built-in-place (BIP) RAs, a borehole air supply (BAS) is commonly used to supply fresh air from the surface. Federal regulations require that such a BAS must supply fresh air at 12.5 cfm or more per person to maintain the oxygen concentration between 18.5% to 23% and carbon dioxide level below the 1% limit specified. However, the minimal fresh air flow (FAF) rate needed to maintain the 1% CO2 level will depend on multiple factors. In the past, to predict the interior CO2 concentration in an occupied RA, 96-hour tests were performed using a physical human breathing simulator. However, given the infinite possibility of the combinations, it would be impractical to fully investigate the range of parameters that can affect the CO2 concentration using physical tests. In this paper, researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) developed a model that can predict how the %CO2 in an occupied confined space changes with time. The model was then compared to and validated with test data. The benchmarked model can be used to predict the %CO2 for any number of people and FAF rate without conducting a 96-hour test. The methodology used in this model can also be used to estimate other gas levels within a confined space.