Even though OSHA first accepted quantitative respirator fit testing (qnft) methods in the 1980s, few companies have produced fit testing machines that use those methods. Products like AccuTec’s AccuFIT and TSI’s Portacount are among the only that exist on the market today for employers looking to use the qnft methods to protect their employees.

What is Quantitative Respirator Fit Testing?

Both quantitative and qualitative respirator fit testing are methods used to test how well a respirator mask fits, or how well the seal on that fit holds up to pressure or stress. Respirator fit testing is required for those fields that require the use of respirator masks for the employee and wearer’s safety. Those include fields like:

• Healthcare
• Chemical/Lab
• Military
• First Responders (Fire)
• Oil & Gas

OSHA provides standard protocols for respirator fit testing to ensure the safety of those workers.

Quantitative respirator fit testing is the most accurate, reliable, and verifiable fit testing method available. Because quantitative fit testing methods measure the leakage around a respirator mask when it is in use, they result in a data-driven fit factor that is backed by data and verifiable by testers and third parties.

Is Quantitative Fit Testing Better than Qualitative Fit Testing?

While quantitative fit testing uses defensible data to prove the effectiveness of a respirator’s seal, qualitative methods rely on subjective account from the wearer of the mask.

Qualitative fit tests ask the subject of a test to sense a challenge agent by smell or taste and rely solely on the subject’s reporting to determine the effectiveness of a respirator’s fit. That kind of subjectivity is unreliable, often inaccurate, and indefensible.

In short, quantitative fit testing methods are the best options for ensuring the integrity of a respirator and the safety of a mask wearer. 

What Quantitative Fit Testing Machines are Out There?

When you are looking for quantitative respirator fit testing equipment, it is important to ensure that it meets the OSHA standards and CNC protocols. This will help to keep your employees safe when they are masked in the field or in the lab. 

There are some companies out there revolutionizing respirator fit testing with products and product lines dedicated to the quantitative fit testing method. Here are a few that you can trust.

AccutFIT 9000 and 9000 PRO by AccuTec

AccuTec has quickly made itself a leader in the Respirator Fit Testing Market with its flagship products – The AccuFIT 9000 and the AccuFIT 9000 PRO. Both machines offer the latest quantitative fit testing technology and adhere to OSHA’s new CNC protocol.

These fit testers are made to work with any type of respirator including disposable face pieces like the N95 masks. In addition to OSHA, AccuFIT products are compliant with ANSI, CSA, and HSE protocols as well, making them a globally recognized fit testing solution.

AccuFIT gives you the capacity to test multiple units from a single computer or to work with the machine as a standalone without the need for PC operation. Perhaps most importantly, while being among the most effective respirator fit testers on the market, the AccuFIT machines are more affordable than their competitors.

Portacount by TSI

The Portacount was one of the first quantitative respirator fit testers on the market. Like the AccuFIT machines from AccuTec, the Portacount boasts the ability to test many types of respirators including gas masks, SCBAs, respirators, and some models can even test the most popular disposable masks on the market.

The Portacount machines are stand-alone units that do not require a separate computer for operation making them more portable and easy to use.

TSI offers several models of their flagship quantitative fit testing device – the Portacount:

• Portacount 8030
• Portacount 8038 – Capable of testing N95 , P1, and P2 disposable masks
• Portacount 8040
• Portacount 8048 – Capable of testing N95 , P1, and P2 disposable masks

The models come with various accessory kits and serve slightly different needs. Make sure you read the product details carefully when shopping for a Portacount machine from TSI.

Quantifit by OHD

OHD is also producing a quality quantitative fit test machine in their Quantifit 2 and Quantifit Legacy products.

Unlike both the AccuFIT products and the Portacount products, Quantifit from OHD uses the controlled negative pressure (CNP) method of fit testing. While easy to perform and time efficient, with the approval of the CNC protocols by OSHA, many experts believe that CNP testing is no longer the most effective test available for respirator fit testing.

This video will tell you more about the differences between CNP and CNC respirator fit testing and which method is right for you.

Since Quantifit uses no consumables and air as a challenge agent in its fit testing method, it does offer the unique benefit of allowing you to redon the mask in the process of fitting. Its redon procedure has also been accepted by OSHA as meeting fit testing standards.

Not all companies that use qualitative fit testing as a means to test the fit of respirators may know that the results are not necessarily 100% accurate. If this is the case, there might be a need to look for ways to conduct foolproof respirator fit testing where the results are reliable and verifiable.

Common use of qualitative fit testing in the workplace

Employers in different industries that require the use of facepieces such as respirators and masks are encouraged to follow OSHA’s fit testing procedures (29 CFR 1910.134). A set of safety protocols has been set up to make sure that no contaminant leaks out. Below are some of the workers in the industries that require the use of respirators:

• Oil and gas industries
• Chemical industries
• Military
• Healthcare

Conducting regular respirator fit testing is required and should be done in accordance with the fit testing regulations. Doing so helps protect workers in industries that deal with health hazards that may include:

• Chemicals
• Inhalants
• Airborne contaminants

Qualitative testing vs quantitative fit testing

When conducting a fit test, there are two ways to identify if the seal of the respirator is functional or not.

• Qualitative fit testing is highly dependent on the sense of taste or smell using respirator fit testing agents, which means that the results can be subjective and manipulated.
• Quantitative fit testing is a more accurate and data-driven approach that uses metrics to gauge the fit of the respirator.

Both testing methods apply to different types of respirators:

• Half-face masks
• Full-face respirators
• N-95 filtering face masks

Difference between the two methods of respirator fit testing

Here’s a quick rundown of the comparisons between the two types of respirator fit testing.

Quantitative Fit Testing	Qualitative Fit Testing
Objective, uses metrics	Subjective, results depend on test subject’s responses
Has no room for cheating	Can be manipulated based on inaccurate response
Quick and can be done in less than 3 minutes	OSHA-compliant test runs about 23 minutes
No potential toxic challenge agents are used	Test subjects may or may not have allergies to the challenge agents used
Verification check is available	No reliable means of verification check
A defensible fit test when legal issues against the employer arise	Can be labeled as circumstantial evidence and can be unfavorable for the employer when legal issues arise

Based on the comparison revealed in the table, quantitative fit testing proves to be more accurate and efficient than qualitative fit testing.

Respirator fit testing is a means of ensuring safety and protection at the workplace. This is especially non-negotiable in settings where employees are exposed to health risks. For instance, the clinical staff often wears face masks, because they deal with airborne pathogens. In some cases, they conduct procedures that involve the use of aerosol.

What happens exactly during qualitative fit testing

Qualitative fit testing has two stages. In both stages, testing agents are used and prepared as solutions. 

Testing solutions

The OSHA-approved qualitative fit testing agents are saccharin sodium, BitrexTM (denatonium benzoate), and isoamyl acetate. Note that these are different from the ones used in quantitative fit testing, which are either ambient aerosol (CNC) or controlled negative pressure (CNP).

In a few cases, irritant smoke may be used, so an involuntary cough can be used as a measure of sensitivity. However, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) does not recommend using this test.

Taste sensitivity test

First, the test subject or participant takes a sensitivity test to check their sense of smell and taste. Once the taste sensitivity level has been identified, the participant is asked to wear a respirator so the seal check can be done.

Smell sensitivity test

After completing the seal check, a testing solution will be sprayed in a hood, and sometimes a nebulizer is used. Next, the participant will be asked to follow a series of exercises to check the strength of the respirator seal. Only if the participant is unable to taste the sprayed solution will they pass the test.

Real case of an employer with OSHA safety violations

Fit testing shouldn’t be taken lightly. A hospital in New York learned this the hard way when it was under fire in 2021. Its nurses protested against poor and unsafe working conditions amidst the pandemic.

OSHA did an inspection in May of the same year. As any company might fear, there were violations listed in the inspection report. Three of these were labeled as serious, and they are as follows:

• The hospital failed to conduct respirator fit testing for all employees who were required to wear respirators, not even for those who were assigned to the progressive and intensive care units.
• There were no available records of qualitative and quantitative fit testing conducted for employees who were required to wear aspirators.
• One violation revealed that the nurses wore N-95 respirators without being provided a medical evaluation. The evaluation should have been done to gauge if they are able to use a respirator. All these happened at the time when the nurses were assigned to care for patients who were either suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases.

This court case is just one of many where an employer didn’t make sure their workers had a safe place to work. Before this, two medical facilities in New Jersey were accused of not following safety rules for respiratory protection.

How qualitative testing can fail employers in legal cases

If you are an employer, the accuracy of test results is one crucial thing that helps you comply with safety regulations. To add to that, it also protects your employees against workplace hazards. Things could go wrong if issues or legal cases arise against an employer in the future. When you fail to present a defensible fit test, the court may not hold a judgment in your favor.

For any company, your records of an accurate fit test are your last line of defense.There is no way to prove that you complied with the regulations in good faith if you fail to show the courts that the fit testing measures you used were reliable. Qualitative fit testing may fail you, and here are the reasons why:

• These tests heavily rely on the wearer’s or test subject’s honesty.
• No one knows if the participant’s responses are reliable.
• No metrics can quantify the data that you need.
• The records you have on hand may be deemed circumstantial evidence.

Any employer must remember that OSHA regulations and labor code laws are made to protect the welfare of employees. Most of the time, companies are legally responsible when they are accused of breaking safety and labor laws. Any company can avoid fines by staying out of civil cases and having a good track record of results that can be checked and verified.

How quantitative testing can help companies pass any safety inspection

In March 2022, OSHA sent out a memo that explained how it planned to go about inspecting medical facilities that treat COVID-19 patients. The inspection plan was only three months long, but it was very thorough. This was to make sure that medical facilities took the right steps to protect their employees from the dangers of the coronavirus. 

It is possible another set of inspections will be carried out in the future. As a safety measure, companies can avoid being charged with safety violations if they do fit testing correctly. The best way to make a defensible fit test is to choose a method with better documentation. This way, results can be checked. With better documentation comes better compliance.

Also, quantitative fit testing solutions such as those offered by Accutec can solve many problems that employers face. Here are some examples:

• A series of tests/exercises in the standard testing procedures are eliminated to save time
• Manpower for qualified fit test administrators is no longer an issue
• Scheduling employees to test respirators when there is a critical staffing shortage is avoided
• Respirator fit testing in small facilities with limited space is no longer troublesome
• Urgent fit testing can be done amidst work settings where COVID-cases are rampant
• Fit testing may be done often, even in circumstances where facial structure changed or when there is the presence of facial hair
• Closer monitoring of all employees is achieved to maintain a higher level of safety and protection

Finally, should a case against an employer arise, the quantifiable, verifiable, and defensible data derived from a quantitative fit test protocol holds up as solid evidence of OSHA compliance.

What companies need to know about fit testing

Carrying out fit test methods that are time-consuming and have a high margin of error takes a lot of employee productivity time. Moreover, when things go awry, the way you do things may prove to be fallible.

Employers need to understand that proper respirator fit testing is essential to saving lives. This is why not only safety but also the accuracy of testing methods should be one of any company’s top priorities.

Make sure you are doing everything you can to both protect your employees and protect your company by using only the best quantitative respirator fit test machines available

Very few people like mandates, but there are many that make sense. For instance, restaurants are required to meet certain standards of cleanliness and sanitation to stay open and functioning. Commercial airline flight crews have to demonstrate proficiency in their ability to fly passenger-carrying aircraft by earning an Airline Transport Pilot rating and a First-Class Medical certificate. Healthcare professionals must be certified and licensed in their field in order to be able to practice.

Anyone out there want to eat at a disreputable restaurant, fly with an untrained pilot, or be operated on by an unlicensed doctor? Not likely.

We tend to take these things for granted, but in reality, these protections exist because they are mandated.

Why are Fit Testing Mandates Required?

The common misconception about respirators (including and especially N95 disposable respirators) is that if someone wears a respirator, he or she is protected from whatever toxic or infectious agents are in the ambient atmosphere in which the person is working. While this may be true, the only way to be sure the wearer is protected is to know that the correct filtration is employed and that the respirator fits!

OSHA has mandated in 29 CFR 1910.134 that whenever a respirator is required to be used to protect an employee (and there are some very specific requirements in the regulation), the respirator must be fit tested to ensure that it actually fits the employee sufficiently well to achieve a minimum protection( fit) factor.

Respirator Fit Testing Mandate Protects Us

Fluid dynamics tells us that a fluid (like air) will flow through the path of least resistance. If the respirator does not seamlessly fit the face of the wearer, a very large part of the air entering the breathing zone will have done so by bypassing the filtration and entering past the margins of the respirator, most likely through gaps around the edges. Toxic vapors, infectious aerosols, and particulates will be carried into the breathing zone along with this air flow. The only way to be sure that this does not occur is to rigorously test the fit of the respirator, and the only way to unambiguously do so is by using a Quantitative Fit Test.

Wearing a respirator that doesn’t fit is dangerous. This is obvious, but even worse, it can create a false sense of security on the part of the wearer. He or she may then take risks they might not otherwise have taken while wearing improperly fitted pieces of personal protective equipment.

What Is the best way to test the fit of a Respirator?

A Quantitative Fit Test (QNFT) such as is produced by the AccuFIT 9000 series of instruments does not depend on the ability of the test subject to detect a challenge agent such as saccharine. QNFT is completely objective and produces a defensible metric that can be referred to by the employer and test subject as proof that the respirator fits and will do the job it was designed to do.

As we said, few people like mandates, but this one, Respirator Fit Testing, saves lives, so we vote Yea!

The Qualitative Respirator Fit Test is a method that relies on the ability of the test subject to detect a challenge agent such as Saccharin. It has been in use for decades and predates the evolution of Quantitative Fit Testing methods and equipment.

Qualitative testing assumes that if any amount of the challenge agent penetrates the respirator/face seal the test subject will taste or smell it. The test is conducted while the test subject is wearing a hood into which the challenge agent is aerosolized. There are several factors associated with this method which can and have been proven to occur, chief among which are:

1. Extreme variations in different subjects’ ability to taste or smell the challenge agent
2. Truthfulness or confusion of test subjects in reporting whether or not they can sense the challenge agent
3. Onerous physical requirements in the protocol and now, continuous decontamination between tests which tend to encourage “short cuts” in the execution of the test, and
4. The complete lack of any defensible metric such as the Fit Factor data that is collected and recorded by the Fit Test device when performing a Quantitative Fit Test.

The first concern, that of the wide variation in the test subjects’ ability to detect the challenge agent, is exacerbated by the generally recognized fact that many persons who are infected with the SARS CoV-2 virus which causes Covid-19, even if asymptomatic, can experience greatly reduced olfactory sensitivity. One can easily imagine a situation in which an asymptomatic but infected individual would be tested by using a challenge agent for which they have a greatly reduced ability to sense.

A 2020 article in Scientific American by Leslie Kay, Ph.D. addresses both the mechanism of this olfactory dysfunction and the fact that it can exist in asymptomatic individuals.

The concern is that the already-problematic qualitative test now has another reason to distrust the results; virus-induced olfactory dysfunction (medical term: Anosmia).

A Quantitative Fit Test using the new streamlined OSHA 2019 standard can be conducted in about two and a half minutes.  The results are completely objective, produce a defensible metric, and are not affected by any impaired sense of taste or smell.

NIH recently released this information which presents a very serious statistical evaluation of the reduced sense of smell in the population of the US.

For more information about the advantages of Quantitative Fit Testing compared to Qualitative, please feel free to contact us here.

There is a lot of misinformation about the way N95 respirators work and in fact what the designation actually means. In order to understand the  AAC/CPC method of fit testing, it is really helpful to first understand the filtration mechanisms that occur in the Filtering Facepiece Respirators such as the N95 series.

We recently found this video, which does an excellent job of explaining the physics of the N95.

In fact, we were so impressed by the very straightforward explanation of the filtering mechanisms that we asked the production company for permission to link to the YouTube video, which they graciously granted.

The video contained in this link is meant for educational purposes only and was produced by ‘MinutePhysics’ who are solely responsible for its content and messaging. You will be redirected to the MinutePhysics YouTube Channel to view this very informative piece about the physics and performance characteristics of N95 respirators.