Rank: Guest 
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Is anyone familar with the above guide?
I know that in answering the questions in step 2 (reasons for using RPE) I can't use short duration work as employees are wearing RPE for 5 hours of their shift. I know this in itself indicates we should reconsider other means of control but at present I have no choice but to proceed down the RPE route (if only as an intermin measure).
In step 4 we have a wear time of >1 hr, which indicates that filtering face pieces are not suitable and we should be looking at powered respirators or hoods. I have been aksed to consider that if we can reduce duration to a greater number of periods of <1 hr then the filtering face piece could then be considered suiatable. There are other individual factors that may send us down the powered hood route but i needed to be clear on the wear time point.
Thanks in advance
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Rank: Super forum user
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Jon
One point to consider is that if any of the chemicals that the RPE is required to protect against are classified as R43 then a facepiece type filter may not be sufficient. It will leave the sensitive skin of the face unprotected, exposing the wearer to the risk of sensitisation and subsequent allergic contact dermatitis. Remember that facial skin is very sensitive. Airborne contact dermatitis is common and well documented. So in such situations I would always recommend a full hood.
Chris
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Rank: Super forum user 
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As I understand it the main problem with wearing the mask for extended periods is that the skin gets sweaty and the fit is lost (as well as being uncomfortable) so taking breaks in between wearing it would help. However for such extensive RPE usage I agree that a powered hood would make much more sense.
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