Employment Respirator Fit Test

Qualitative fit testing is a pass/fail method used on half-masks that relies on senses - such as taste and smell - to detect air leakage from your respirator.

The half masks being tested much have an overall fit factor (mask particle concentration divided by the ambient particle concentration) of 100 or less.

The test relies on a harmless, yet bitter-tasting chemicals called Bitrex, which will determine whether you pass. Rather than measuring the amount of leakage into the facepiece, the qualitative fit test determines whether the facepiece is in working order.

Unfortunately, if you taste a bitter substance, it is a fail.

Quantitative fit testing is the process to measure the precise amount of leakage into any tight-fitting facepieces. Instead of relying on bitter-tasting chemicals and your senses, the test is performed by a machine calculating the measurements.

Typically, the facepiece is attached to a probe, which is connected to the measuring machine by a hose. 

Upon completion of the test, each eligible employee has issued a card listing the make, model and sizes of the respirator they received a passed fit test.