Descripción de Respirator Testing and Certification 1934:

This clip shows the testing of a new air-purifying respirator for approval by the US Bureau of Mines in 1934. Currently all respirators used in US workplaces must be similarly testing and certified by NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health). NIOSH has administered the respirator certification program since 1972, and traces its origins to the early years of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The Bureau of Mines was created within the Dept of Interior in 1910, and began the development of Schedules covering the design, testing and evaluation of mine emergency respiratory protection equipment. Since then schedules have been published for self contained breathing apparatus for use in mine rescue; gas masks and Air Purifying Respirators to be used by escaping miners during an emergency; airline respirators; gas and vapor-removal (chemical cartridge); and dust-filtration (particulate). The 1969 Federal Mine Health and Safety Act mandated joint approval of respirators by the Departments of Interior and Health, Education and Welfare, and the 1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act created NIOSH. In 1972, NIOSH and the Bureau consolidated the various approval schedules into federal regulations under Title 30, Mineral Resources, of the Code of Federal Regulations. Administration of the respirator approval program was transferred to NIOSH from the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The respirator approval program began to gain increased significance as regulations published by the OSHA and other federal agencies also begin to require the use of approved or accepted respirators in American workplaces. Approval responsibility within the DOI was transferred in 1973 to MESA, formed from the Bureau of Mines under the Act. The MESA was re-designated as the MSHA and transferred from the DOI to the Department of Labor with the respirator approval mandate under the 1977 Mine Act. All respirator approvals were issued jointly by the MSHA and NIOSH until 1995, when the approval requirements for respiratory protection devices were transferred to Title 42, Public Health, of the Code of Federal Regulations. Under current DHHS respirator approval regulations, NIOSH is the sole approving authority for most respirators. MSHA is a co-approver with NIOSH for respirator designs intended for mine rescue and other emergency use in mines. For more about NIOSHs respirator program go to http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/ . This is clipped from the 1940s film, The Air We Breathe, a ppromotional documentary from the Mine Safety Appliances Company (MSA) on the importance of the air respirator to industrial health and safety. At the end, the film explains that industry and government cooperation has removed the "menace in the air" and urges workers in various industries to use the respirator. This film is available from the National Archives (NARA).