Recent Respirator Notices Address Safety, NIOSH Approvals

The National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) recently alerted respirator users of three new announcements regarding NIOSH-approved respirators. One is a notification from 3M Scott Fire & Safety that applies to certain E-Z Flo and E-Z Flo+ mask-mounted regulators (MMR), and the other two notices have to do with certain NIOSH respirator approvals.

The stop use and action notification (PDF) issued by 3M Scott Fire & Safety provides an update about MMR that may have been shipped without mounting latch screws. The new notice, dated May 2024, expands the manufacturing date range for potential instances of missing screws among E-Z Flo and E-Z Flo+ regulators to include all units manufactured during March 2022 through January 2023. The company provides instructions for inspecting regulators and says that any found to be missing the cover screws should be taken out of service. Affected users should contact their 3M Scott Fire & Safety Authorized Service Center to complete the repairs required. Previous notices about this matter were published in December 2022 (PDF) and March 2023 (PDF).

Two notices from NIOSH explain that the agency has honored the requests of two companies to voluntarily rescind respirator approvals. The rescissions affect four approvals issued to SAS Safety Corporation and one approval issued to Allegro Industries. Respirators bearing the approval numbers listed in the agency’s notices are no longer NIOSH approved and may no longer be used, manufactured, assembled, sold, or distributed. The agency directs individuals to contact the companies regarding inquiries about the decisions to voluntarily rescind these approvals.

These and other recent respirator-related notices can be found on the NPPTL website.