Questions? Get a Quick Response
Questions? Get a Quick Response
The consequences of respiratory protection failure don’t show up immediately. Sometimes they take decades.
Bill Hill, Chief Technology Officer at Accutec, lives with atypical pulmonary fibrosis caused by alpha particle damage from uranium oxide exposure when he was working in a uranium mill. Uranium oxide is harmless unless you breathe it. Without proper respiratory protection, those alpha particles destroy lung tissue in ways that don’t become apparent until years later.
This personal reality drives everything Accutec does. Fit testing isn’t just a regulatory requirement. It’s the difference between protection and a dangerous illusion of safety.
Bill’s first exposure to respirator fit testing came at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in 1965. The “fit testing program” consisted of herding the platoon into a Quonset hut, tossing in a canister of CS tear gas, and having trainees remove their masks, sing a chorus of the Marines’ Hymn, and re-don the masks.
That was it. That was supposed to prove the mask worked.
It wasn’t quantitative. It wasn’t scientific. But it was designed to instill one thing: confidence that the respirator would actually protect you from toxic gas, in this case 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile.
Bill served six years in the Marine Corps Reserve, training with the understanding that these masks might be the difference between life and death. That experience, combined with his earlier exposure to hazardous materials without adequate protection, left a permanent mark.
Years later, Bill worked in analytical chemistry in Albuquerque. His office was in a small row of professional spaces. Two doors down, a company called Frontier Enterprises was developing something revolutionary.
Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Naval Research Lab had created the first quantitative fit testing protocols, measuring the actual seal between a respirator and the wearer’s face by comparing particle concentrations inside and outside the mask. The original setup required large chambers, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and used controlled challenge agents in laboratory environments.
Frontier Enterprises was working to make fit testing portable. Because Bill had a background in analytical chemistry and the developers were primarily physicists, they occasionally knocked on his door with questions about particle behavior, optical detection, and measurement techniques.
What started as peripheral consultation gradually pulled him deeper into respiratory protection. Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Cincinnati demonstrated that you could use ambient particles in the air instead of generated aerosols. This breakthrough meant fit testing didn’t require elaborate chambers. The Department of Defense took notice and contracted for development of portable equipment using condensation nuclei counter technology.
Modern quantitative fit testing was born. And Bill was there as it happened.
Twenty years ago, Bill was demonstrating fit testing equipment at a New Mexico Fire Department. One of the firefighters was Mike, an ex-Navy corpsman. Six foot three, 230 pounds, the kind of guy who ran 15 miles a day.
Mike put on his department-issued respirator, a medium-sized mask. One of the best full-face respirators available. He’d worn it into countless fires, trusted that mask with his life.
The fit test failed.
“This equipment’s a piece of junk,” Mike said.
Bill handed him a different size. “Try this one.”
Mike looked at the small-sized mask and laughed. “I’m not wearing a small. I’m a big guy.”
“Just try it,” Bill said.
Mike put on the small mask. The fit factor jumped to 2000, at least ten times better than the medium.
You could see the blood drain from Mike’s face. Every fire he’d fought. Every burning building he’d entered. All those years wearing a mask that didn’t seal properly.
Here’s what most people don’t understand: respirator size has nothing to do with how big you are. It has everything to do with how your face is shaped. Mike made a reasonable assumption that put him at risk for years.
The Truth About Respiratory Protection
Wearing a respirator that doesn’t fit is worse than wearing none at all. When a respirator doesn’t seal properly, it creates a dangerous illusion of safety. Workers think they’re protected. They walk into hazardous environments with confidence. Meanwhile, contaminated air is leaking in around the edges with every breath.
This is why fit testing exists. This is why it matters.
A large portion of initial N95 fit tests fail. Often, the first respirator someone tries doesn’t fit properly. Without quantitative testing, how would they know? They’d assume the mask worked. They’d wear it into contaminated areas. They’d breathe in the very hazards they thought they were protected against.
The thing about lung damage is that it doesn’t show up for decades. By the time symptoms appear, the damage is done. Bill knows this firsthand. Mike learned it standing in that fire station, staring at fit test results that revealed years of inadequate protection.
When Bill founded Accutec, he had one goal: provide usable, truthful, evidence-based knowledge about fit testing and respiratory protection. Not marketing hype. Not exaggerated claims. Just the facts that safety professionals need to keep their people safe.
Because fit testing isn’t about checking a compliance box. It’s about making sure that when workers walk into dangerous environments, they’re actually protected. Not assuming they are. Not hoping they are. Knowing they are.
Today’s technology can complete accurate fit tests in approximately two and a half minutes using the Fast OSHA 2019 Protocol. The science is solid, the correlation with the gold standard is proven, and the equipment tests during natural breathing and movement, not while standing perfectly still.
Every nurse fitting healthcare workers, every safety manager at an industrial facility and every firefighter suiting up in turnout gear for the next call. They deserve equipment that works reliably, technology that’s grounded in real science, and the confidence that comes from knowing their people are truly protected.
That’s what drives Accutec. That’s our promise.
Because Bill Hill understands something most people in this industry don’t have to live with: the permanent consequences of respiratory protection that doesn’t work.
Bill Hill is Chief Technology Officer at Accutec and has spent over 30 years advancing respiratory protection and quantitative fit testing technology. His work has helped establish modern fit testing standards and protocols used across healthcare, industrial safety, and emergency response.
