What is a respiratory protection program?

A respiratory protection program is a written program required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Respiratory Protection Standard (29 CFR 1910.134). The program includes procedures specific to your worksite intended to prevent you from inhaling harmful contaminants in your workplace. OSHA requires that each employer must provide respirators to protect workers from workplace hazards during work to prevent inhalation of hazardous materials that cannot be controlled by other measures (i.e. engineering or administrative controls). The employer must establish and maintain a respiratory protection program, which is compliant with the OSHA respiratory protection standard and provides respirators suitable for their intended purpose.