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General
In April 2004 the new BGR 190 “Use of
respiratory protective devices” appeared.
It would appear useful to explain the main
changes which have been made as compared
to the previously issued ZH1/701
“Rules for the use of respiratory protective
devices” dated October 1996.
The industrial professional associations
have now redefined the scope of their
regulations, as follows:
- BGV = “Berufsgenossenschaftliche Vorschriften”
= regulations for safety and
health at work issued by the professional
associations,
- BGR = “Berufsgenossenschaftliche
Regeln” = rules for safety and health
at work issued by the professional
associations,
- BGI = “Berufsgenossenschaftliche Informationen”
= information issued by the
professional associations and
- BGG = “Berufsgenossenschaftliche
Grundsätze” = basic principles defined
by the professional associations.
Within this systematic framework, the BGR
190 covers occupational safety regulations
and the German Ordinance for Safety and
Health Protection during Use of Personal
Protective Equipment at Work (PSA-BV),
and explains the Accident Prevention Regulation
“Principles of Prevention” (BGV A1)
with respect to the use of respiratory protection.
It is thus intended to help companies
meet their obligations arising from
national work regulations and accident prevention regulations, illustrating ways to help
avoid work-related health risks. Following
the regulations reassures companies that
they are correctly applying the measures
to prevent industrial accidents and workrelated
sickness and health risks, and have
complied with the national work safety regulations.
Nonetheless, the BGR 190 does not
claim to offer exclusive solutions, and the
protection goals can also be achieved using
other, equivalent solutions, to which reference
is made in the documents taken into
account in this set of rules:
- Council Directive of 30 November 1989
on the minimum health and safety regulations
for the use by workers of personal
protective equipment (PPE) at the workplace
(89/656/EEC),
- DIN and EN respiratory protection
standards and
- BGI = “Berufsgenossenschaftliche Informationen”
= information issued by the
professional associations and
- EN 529 “Respiratory protective devices –
Recommendation for selection, use, care
and maintenance – Guideline” (formerly
the CEN – Report CR 529).
Changes to contents
Essentially, there are no major differences
between the contents of ZH1/701 and the
new BGR 190. While in ZH1/701 the description
of the respiratory protective devices
appears at the beginning, the BGR 190 follows
the same chronological order as in the
- “German Occupational Health and Safety
Act (ArbSchG)” and the
- “German Ordinance for Safety and Health
Protection during Use of Personal Protective Equipment at Work (PPE Ordinance
or PSA-BV)”.
In other words, the respiratory protective
devices are described in the Appendix. Furthermore,
amendments were made in the
individual sections to reflect experience
gained in practice and from regulations and
standards. For users of the BGR 190 it is
therefore the contents that are crucial, as
they contain the information and recommendations
needed to fulfil the national regulations.
These are summarized in the section
entitled “Measures to prevent danger to life
and health during work, rescue and escape”
and are divided into the following main subject
areas:
- provision,
- use and
- maintenance, repair and replacement
of respiratory protective devices.
When companies are faced with the question
of which respiratory protective device
to provide, they must
- perform a risk assessment to identify the
hazards and strains to which the workers
are subjected at the workplace, evaluate
the results of the assessment and work
out appropriate action,
- lay down the order of priority of protective
measures, which only in a last resort
should result in use of respiratory protective
devices,
- select the “right” respiratory protective
device. To this end, the BGR 190 contains
detailed information about classification
and labelling, and a list of respiratory
protective devices with their respective
protection classes (as a multiple of the
limit value = highest permissible concentration
of a contaminant in the ambient
atmosphere; generally the TLV).
If a respiratory protective device does need
to be used, compliance with § 2 of the PPE
Ordinance and § 30 of the Accident Prevention
Regulation “Principles of Prevention”
(BGV A1) is required. Respiratory protective
devices must in all cases be made
available to the insured for personal use.
Maintenance work and intervals must be
observed. The equipment must be kept in
proper condition.
Use of the equipment, however, also requires
sufficient aptitude on the part of the
user. For this purpose, wearers of certain
respiratory protective devices are required
to undergo a medical examination in accordance
with BGV A1 and BGV A4 “Industrial
medical examination” due to the fact that the use of respiratory protective devices
places strain on the user. The basis for the
examination is the basic principle defined
by the professional associations for industrial
medical examinations G26 “Respiratory
protective devices” (BGG 904 – 26), which
has to be performed in accordance with the
group classification of respiratory protective
devices “Selection criteria for the special industrial
medical examination in accordance
with the basic principles defined by the professional
associations for industrial medical
examinations – respiratory protective devices”
(BGI 504-26) (see also Appendix 3). Even
once a person has been found to be suitable
for wearing respiratory protective devices,
however, they must not be subjected
to excessive strain. In this context, Appendix
2 of the BGR 190 contains information
relating to wearing and rest periods for the
different respiratory protective devices and the number of operations per shift and per
working week. The figures quoted do not
apply to emergency operations such as selfrescue
or fire-fighting.
It is of course obvious that the wearer is
subjected not only to strain from the respiratory
protective device itself, e.g. its weight
and breathing resistance etc., but also to
aspects such as the climatic conditions,
severity of work, physical characteristics of
the work area etc. These aspects are taken
into account by so-called “correction factors”.
For example, if it is recommended that a
closed-circuit breathing apparatus with a
total weight of more than five kilograms be worn under normal conditions for a period
of 120 minutes, this figure is reduced to 70
percent if the difficulty of the work performed
necessitates a minute volume of 40 to 60
L/min, and to a further 70 percent if at the
same time the ambient conditions include
temperatures above 28 °C and relative humidity
in excess of 78 percent, meaning that in
total the device can only be used for half the
originally recommended time. For the sake
of completeness, it needs to be pointed out
that there are certain types of respiratory
protective device, e.g. assisted fresh air hose
and compressed air line breathing apparatuses
with hood, helmet or respiratory protective
suit, whose usage time is not subject to any
limitations at all. |
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All details relevant to the use of respiratory
protective devices must be recorded in a
works instruction and monitored. Examples of
such documentation, which needs to be drawn
up in accordance with § 3 Subsection 2 of the
PPE Ordinance, can be found in Appendix 4.
The aforementioned facts relating to the
workplace and the required action must be
explained to the insured during the course of theoretical instruction and practical exercises.
The BGR 190 mentions virtually no
significant changes to former instruction
practices, and merely additional information
is included which is relevant to the new regulations
and many years of experience.
One positive aspect is the fact that the BGR
190 contains information about maintenance,
repair and replacement measures which are
very similar to those drawn up by Department
8 “Personal protective equipment” of
the vfdb (vfdb = Association for the Promotion
of German Fire Safety). These instructions,
specific to fire brigades, are to be found
in the July 2002 edition of vfdb guideline
0804 “Maintenance of respiratory protective
devices for fire brigades”.
The table lists the work that needs to be
performed and the respective intervals to
maintain equipment in good condition,
based on the example of the compressed
air breathing apparatus. The maintenance
process is identical for industrial and fire
brigade use, which is a huge benefit for
companies when it comes to compiling
equipment user manuals, and for users when
it comes to using the equipment. Consequently,
there are also no serious differences
regarding maintenance of devices made
by different manufacturers – a big advantage
for service personnel.
Obviously, the BGR 190 contains only information
relating to respiratory protective devices
used for industrial purposes. In addition
to the equipment used by fire brigades,
these are:
- half masks, respiratory protection
hoods/helmets and mouthpieces, and
- power assisted devices, assisted fresh air
hose and compressed air line breathing
apparatuses.
As already mentioned, the description of
the respiratory protective devices has been
moved to the appendix, reflecting the order
adopted by the national regulations. In the
appendix, the interested reader will find detailed
information and recommendations
about the individual respiratory protective
devices used in industry. In addition to a des- cription of the devices, reference is
made to the relevant requirements and
testing standards, e.g. EN 136 – Respiratory
protective devices; Full face masks – Requirements,
testing, marking, and to conditions
for use, e.g. filtering devices may only
be used if the ambient air contains at least
17 percent by volume of oxygen, and to limitations,
e.g. full face masks with class P2
particle filters must not be used for protection
against radioactive substances and risk
group 3 airborne biological substances and
enzymes. When using the devices, particular
attention must be paid to the maximum
concentration of hazardous substances
which is present at the workplace, as this
determines which respiratory protective
device should be chosen.
Appendix 2 of the BGR 190 contains detailed
information about the limitations to
wearing time. A filtering device with full
face mask without power assistance, for
example, can be used for a maximum period
of 105 minutes with a rest period (work
break) of 30 minutes. The device can be
worn three times per work shift, on the basis of five shifts per week. The correction factors
need to be applied in the event of adverse
climatic con- ditions or if the work is particularly
arduous.
Appendix 3 details how the respiratory protective
devices are classified into groups
according to their weight and provides information
about the “selection criteria for
the special medical examination in accordance
with the G 26 basic principle defined
by the professional associations, respiratory
protective devices”.
Examples of the works instruction that needs
to be drawn up can be found in Appendix 4,
followed by information about regulations
and rules in Appendix 5.
As already explained above, the BGR 190
mirrors the needs of the professional associations
and the requirements laid down in
national regulations. It is an extremely important
set of rules which, if strictly observed
and rigorously applied, can help companies
meet their obligations to take due care of
the insured.
Dr Adalbert Pasternack
Conclusion
The rules for work safety and health “Use of respiratory protective devices” (BGR 190)
issued by the professional associations provide companies with a set of regulations containing
information on how to perform a risk assessment and select, use and maintain respiratory
protective equipment. If the rules are followed carefully, companies can rest assured
that they have done everything they can to protect their employees from the harm caused
by inhaling hazardous substances. Naturally, the conditions for use of the different devices
must be met, and during instruction wearers must be told about all relevant aspects and the
dangers of non-compliance (e.g. exceeding wearing times). To maintain respiratory protective
devices in good condition, the maintenance tasks and intervals harmonized with the fire
brigade guidelines apply. These offer advantages to both sides, user and manufacturer alike.
In drawing up the BGR 190, the professional associations are helping companies meet their
obligations arising from national regulations and those issued by the professional associations
themselves. |
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Dräger Safety AG & Co. KGaA |
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Revalstrasse 1 |
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23560 Luebeck, Germany |
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Tel +49 451 882 0
Fax +49 451 882 2080
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