Safety Quiz
Have you ever been unable to breathe? The average adult breathes 12 to 20 breaths per minute. If you must think about breathing for that minute, it’s terrifying. It might be safe to say that breathing is important. And if breathing is important, so protecting your respiratory system.
Today’s quiz is focused on topics related to respiratory protection, atmospheres, and inhalation. Take the quiz and then check your answers with ours at the end of the quiz. See how much you know about this critical topic.
1. You are supervising a group of workers that will be doing some hot work (welding and cutting) on stainless steel, which could cause an inhalation exposure to hexavalent chromium, a known inhalation hazard. What should you do first to protect your workers from this hazard?
A. Find out if you have an inhalation hazard and if there is an exposure, if it is above the acceptable level. Perform some atmospheric testing while welding is happening to see what the level of exposure is.
B. Buy respirators for everyone. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
C. The welding job on the stainless steel is short lived. You don’t need to do anything.
D. None of the above are correct.
2. There are exposure levels or amounts of atmospheric hazards which are acceptable to breathe, for example, you can breathe up to 50 parts per million of carbon monoxide before it is hazardous to you. There is a name for this level of exposure. What is it?
A. Acceptable Breathing Limit (ABL)
B. Short-Term Exposure Level (STEL)
C. Acceptable Exposure Level (AEL)
D. Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL)
3. You’ve determined that your work area has an inhalation hazard that cannot be controlled through ventilation or other types of controls. Your employees will have to wear respirators. Before you can initiate use of respirators, what should you and your employees do?
A. Prepare a written Respiratory Protection Program.
B. Have employees complete and pass a medical evaluation.
C. Have employees fit tested, either quantitively or qualitatively.
D. Have the employees attend a training session on respiratory protection.
E. Only A and B are correct.
F. All the above are correct.
G. None of the above are correct.
4. Your company has done some atmospheric testing. The results indicate that air-purifying respirators (APR) must be worn. What are two things that should be done each time before they wear the respirators?
A. Employees can work normally. Nothing needs to happen.
B. Employees should inspect the respirator to make sure it is clean and that there are no defects and then put the respirator on and do a positive and/or negative pressure test.
C. Employees should be fit tested and have a medical evaluation each time before the respirator is worn.
D. Employees should read the respiratory protection program and then send a note to their supervisors that they are about to wear the respirator.
Weekly Safety Challenge
Do you have to wear a respirator at work? If so, how do you keep it clean?
Answers:
- A. Perform testing to see if you have an atmospheric hazard.
- D. Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL)
- F. All the responses were correct. You need a program, and employees must be medically evaluated, fit tested, and trained.
- B. Employees should inspect their respirator and then put it on and do a pressure test.
