Projects

Preparing the U.S. Workforce for an Airborne Pandemic

Developing a more effective respirator fitting process for front-line emergency responders.

Executive Summary

N95 respirators are one of the most important ways the U.S. workforce, including healthcare workers, protect themselves against contagious infections, such as tuberculosis and influenza. To be sure the respirator fits properly and is effective, each worker must have a “fit-test” before wearing it in the workplace. Employers find the fit-testing process to be burdensome and expensive, so typically only a portion of workers are fit-tested, leaving many not knowing what model or size respirator to wear, should they need to protect themselves. Therefore, during a public health emergency, such as the next influenza pandemic, many workers will need to be fit-tested rapidly. However, little is known about how fast fit-testing can be completed. This problem is a critical gap in knowledge that stands to have a major influence on the U.S. resiliency during a public health emergency.

Team Members

Lew Radonovich (Team Lead), CDC / NIOSH
Angela Weber, CDC / NIOSH
Mike Bergman, CDC / NIOSH

Milestones

August 2017: Project selected into the HHS Ignite Accelerator
September 2017: Time in Accelerator Began
December 2017: Time in Accelerator Ended