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Original Date: 03/17/1997
Revision Date: 01/18/2007
Information : Respirator Program Management
To protect its employees from hazardous substances, Polaroid established comprehensive programs to manage the application and use of respiratory protective equipment. Although engineering controls, such as ventilation, are the preferred methods of control, respirators are used as an extra precaution or for those situations where controls are infeasible or not yet in place. Polaroid uses a wide variety of respiratory protective equipment including air purifying, supplied air, and self-contained breathing apparatus. Each division has a written respirator program modeled after a corporate generic document, and trains hundreds of employees through the respirator program.
In 1992, Polaroid formed a Respirator Council, composed of Division Respirator Program Administrators, which meets quarterly. Corporate-sponsored training is provided on-site to the Respirator Program Administrators. Over the past few years, Polaroid has stepped up efforts in its Respirator Program Management. For example, the company’s facial hair policy for workers whose jobs may require them to wear respirators has been more firmly defined and enforced. Polaroid has purchased additional quantitative fit test equipment to meet its bi-annual fit test requirements, and has conducted studies of existing standards and regulatory requirements to ensure that the company maintains well-defined quantitative fit test procedures. The company also has provided recommendations to OSHA on draft respirator standards for fit testing use. Additionally, Polaroid shares its expertise in respirator protective equipment with the local community. Corporate staff members teach respiratory protection classes to graduate-level, industrial hygiene students at the nearby Harvard School of Public Health.
Although specific benefits of Respirator Program Management are difficult to quantify, Polaroid focuses on continuous improvement of its respirator programs. This approach enables Polaroid to provide a higher degree of safety for employees using respiratory protective e
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