• Provide each employee with an
appropriate respirator that complies with the requirements of
this section, and require that employees use them in
circumstances where exposure is above either permissible
exposure limit (PEL) for benzene, including any of the
following circumstances:
– Employees are in an exposure control area;
– Feasible exposure controls are being put in place;
– Where you determine that exposure controls are not
feasible;
– Feasible exposure controls do not reduce exposures to,
or below, a PEL;
– Emergencies.
• Provide employees, for escape, either:
– Any full-facepiece organic vapor gas mask;
OR
– Any full-facepiece self-contained breathing apparatus
(SCBA);
OR
– A hood-style SCBA that operates in positive-pressure
mode.
• Use organic vapor cartridges or canisters on powered
air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) and negative-pressure
air-purifying respirators.
• Use only chin-style canisters on full-facepiece gas
masks.
Note:
When other contaminants present a hazard, then you will need to use a filter or other combination sorbent cartridge
that removes the additional contaminants.
You must:
• Make sure respirator cartridges or canisters are
replaced at the beginning of each work shift, or sooner if
their service life has expired.
• Make sure canisters on air-purifying respirators have a
minimum service life of four hours when tested under these
conditions:
– A benzene concentration of 150 ppm;
– A temperature of 25°C;
– A relative humidity of 85%;
– A flow rate of one of the following:
▪ 64 liters per minute (lpm) for nonpowered air-purifying
respirators;
▪ 115 lpm for tight-fitting PAPRs;
▪ 170 lpm for loose-fitting PAPRs.
• Provide an employee a respirator with low breathing
resistance, such as a PAPR or an air-line respirator when the:
– Employee cannot use a negative-pressure respirator;
OR
– A licensed health care professional's (LHCP's) written
opinion allows this type of respirator.