Respiratory protective equipment

RPE should be only one component of a comprehensive programme to prevent and reduce risks to health, unless in emergency or minimal risk situations. If RPE must be used, the assumed protection should be based on information derived from tests in real workplaces only. Those planning RPE programmes should ask themselves "would I wear that RPE doing the job they are doing for the time they are doing it?". The reality of RPE is best summed up by a comment in the 1988 draft Approved Code of Practice for Carcinogenic Substances: "but PPE, particularly RPE, depends for its effectiveness on the wearer's willingness to wear it".