What is a Respirator and why we need them?

Respirator is a personal protective equipment which will protect the user by filtering out harmful particles when the user breathes. Filtering face piece respirators are commonly called N95 medical face masks. They protect the user from different types of airborne pathogens causing infectious respiratory diseases like COVID 19, SARS, H1N1 Flu, and Tuberculosis. N95 has a meaning. N means these masks are not resistant to oil particles. 95 means 95% of the particles are filtered through the respirator.

There are other particulate filtering respirators used in gas, vapor, oil, fumes and dusty environments to protect the worker from inhaling these particles.

There are two major categories:

Half Face Mask

Full Face Mask

  • Powered air-purifying respirators associate with a portable, battery-powered blower that draws air in through a particulate or chemical filter and blows it into the facepiece.