May 2003                             return to the newsletter contents page

SARS and the Safety Industry

The worldwide outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) affected more than just the location of Safety Week 2003. Many distributors reported difficulty obtaining N-95 masks from suppliers beginning in late March. As reported in the May SEDA Washington Report, demand for respiratory protection and protective eye wear remains high, despite news that some countries seem to have controlled the spread of the virus that causes SARS.

Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and respirator manufacturers met on May 1, via conference call, to discuss issues related to SARS. Manufacturers asked CDC to specify with greater detail the types of PPE recommended for protection against SARS, including eye wear, protective apparel, and single-use respirators when caring for patients and for non-patient care activities.

The World Health Organization recently recognized alternatives to N95-rated respirators. The following text about additional types of respiratory protection for use against SARS is at the bottom of a WHO website , www.who.int/csr/sars/infectioncontrol/en/

*N/R/P 95/99/100 or FFP 2/3 or an equivalent national manufacturing standard (NIOSH (N,R,P 95,99,100) or European CE EN149:2001(FFP 2,3) and EN143:2000 (P2) or comparable national/regional standards applicable to the country of manufacture.

CDC’s hospital recommendations for inpatient setting include:

• Standard precautions (e.g., hand hygiene); in addition to routine standard precautions, health-care personnel should wear eye protection for all patient contact. (CDC has stated that snug-fitting spectacles are adequate for general patient care.)

• Contact precautions, such as gowns and gloves for contact with the patient or their environment)

• Airborne precautions (e.g., an isolation room with negative pressure relative to the surrounding area and use of an N-95 filtering disposable respirator for persons entering the room)

The CDC recommends that if “airborne precautions cannot be fully implemented, patients should be placed in a private room, and all persons entering the room should wear N-95 respirators. Where possible, a qualitative fit test should be conducted for N-95 respirators; If N-95 respirators are not available for health-care personnel, then surgical masks should be worn. Regardless of the availability of facilities for airborne precautions, standard and contact precautions should be implemented for all suspected SARS patients.”

OSHA. OSHA recently established a website devoted to information on SARS. The website’s “Standard Precautions and Personal Protective Equipment” section tells healthcare workers treating SARS patients to use “standard precautions, including good work and hygiene practices and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) appropriate for bloodborne and airborne exposures. Appropriate PPE includes protective gowns, gloves, N95 respirators, in addition to and eye protection.”

Lab Worker Protections. OSHA says lab workers should wear “appropriate PPE,” such as disposable gloves, gowns, eye protection, and respiratory protection.” N95, N100 air-purifying respirators, or powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) equipped with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters are recommended. (For more information, see www.osha.gov/dep/sars/index.html)