Face Fit Testing
Safety and Health
Face Fit Testing
What is Face fit Testing?
Under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH), employees who wear tight-fitting facepieces (masks to protect them from dusts, solvents, etc.) are required to have a face fit test to ensure the facepiece/mask matches the employee’s facial features and will provide an adequate seal to protect the wearer. Tight-fitting face pieces, dust masks, solvent masks, face masks, RPE and respiratory protective equipment are all terms for the same thing – a mask used to reduce the airborne hazards entering the lungs. A Face fit test is only required for masks with a tight face seal.
Why Face Fit Test?
Every individual has a uniquely shaped face, whereas all masks of the same make and model are identical. Therefore one size clearly cannot fit nor adequately protect every individual. To ensure the mask adequately protects the person, a Face Fit Test should be completed.
We offer a quantitative face fit testing approach using a TSI Portacount and qualitative face fit testing using a taste test in a hood. The Portacount method avoids subjective test differences that can be associated with qualitative testing.
We can help you to manage this by completing face fit testing for your employees. These can be part of a health surveillance program or a standalone face fit test. It typically includes a questionnaire in the first instance, then a person wearing their own mask performing a series of tests to establish if the mask fits correctly under the normal stresses of use. One face fit test is required for each different type of mask used.
Following the face fit test, the employee and the employer will be given a Fitness for Work Certificate stating the outcome as pass or fail.
Where can Face Fit Testing be Carried Out?
As with most of our services, these can be at your workplace or our offices in Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire. If it’s only a handful of people or individuals, then our office works well, otherwise, it makes sense to arrange face fit testing at your workplace.
Why do you Need to be Clean Shaven?
If you’re wearing a tight-fitting mask at work, beards and stubble could be putting you at risk. Such masks need to form a proper seal against the face to work. Even a little facial hair growth can break that seal, allowing harmful substances to slip through. Your mask is only effective if it fits properly.
That’s why the HSE says workers must be clean shaven in the area where the mask fits.
If you have a beard for personal or cultural reasons, there are alternative options like powered hoods or helmets that don’t rely on a tight seal.
