The U.S. health department recommends that those people who work in surroundings with questionable air safety put on N95 masks in a bid to prevent them from contracting diseases that stem from such surroundings.

N95 particulate respirators serve many purposes. They are not limited to only filtering particulates, but also serve as a consistent reminder for the user that the particular surroundings are hazardous. By not even allowing the user to touch their mouths with potentially contaminated hands, these masks serve an additional protective purpose. With reference to the design of N95 face masks, there are safety guidelines for people working in health care environments regarding the recommended face-fit. These regulations are published by NIOSH which is an organization located in the United states of America and having its headquarter in the nation’s capital, Washington DC. It’s research labs are also in the following states: Georgia, Colorado and West Virginia.

NIOSH is one of the parts of the CDC which is essentially part of the United States dept. of health, thus its mandates and policies can be based on reliably. It’s this body that publishes standards for the so called N95 dust respirators which is just a normal particulate respirator but is manufactured under the standards published by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

There is normally a flexible filtration pad that is held over the nose and mouth aided by elastic or rubber straps so as to protect he or she from inhaling particles when working in a hazardous environment such as on a construction site. This N95 particulate mask is put on in roughly the same way that a surgical mask is put on, but one should note the difference as each of them serves a unique function, and using one when you should be using the other may expose you to dangers.

It is also critically important to be able to fit your N95 face masks properly, as failure to fit the mask properly will still leave the user at a potential risk. Dust masks are supposed to protect wearers from specific dangers only. For example, a dust mask will not protect the user against chemicals in the form of a vapor. One would mitigate this danger by wearing a paint mask, but if you confuse the two and use a dust mask instead of a paint mask, then you are truly exposed to the chemicals.

Regular dust masks are generally cheaper when compared with conventional respirators but may provide the same degree of protection, and may also be less vulnerable to misuse. Many dust respiratorshave improvements that incorporate two straps over the head, usually one over the upper and the other on the lower with strips of aluminum that one can bend in order to achieve a custom fit. There’s also foam rubber on the inside of the mask to ensure a better fit even if the aluminum is not able to be fit quite as tightly as it should.

The masks that have these improvements are generally subjected to standards offered by NIOSH and are thus referred to as N95 particulate respirators where ‘N’ implies ‘not oil resistant’ and the ‘95′ refers to its efficiency which is 95%.