Jenkins Academy of Applied Technology

Respiratory Protection — Voluntary-Use Awareness — Learner reference

Respiratory Protection · v1.0.0 · October 21, 2026

Learn the basics for voluntary respirator use. Your employer must first allow this use and check that it creates no hazard. The rules depend on the kind of device. The employer must give you the actual Appendix D information. Other medical and care steps may apply. This course is not for required use or entry into IDLH air.

Lesson 1

Confirm that use is truly voluntary

A worker asks to wear a respirator for comfort during a task. The employer must first decide whether protection is actually needed. The choice is based on the work and the air hazard, not the worker’s label for it.

If a rule, the exposure review or the employer requires a respirator, use is required. You need the required-use program and instruction. Calling it optional does not remove those duties. The employer paying for a device does not by itself turn genuinely voluntary use into required use.

For voluntary use, the employer must determine that using the device will not itself create a hazard. It may set safe-use conditions or decline a proposal that is unsafe. It must provide the Appendix D information to each voluntary user.

This is a basic course for that case. It does not let you decide that harmful air is safe. It does not waive the rules for required use. Stop and seek review if the work or air changes.

Basis: 1910.134(a), (c)(2), (k)(6); OSHA interpretations 2018-04-24 and 2018-04-26.

Lesson 2

Use the Appendix D information

The employer must give you the information in Appendix D when respirator use is voluntary. It can do this in a written or oral format. Ask for the information in words you understand. This short course does not record that your employer has delivered it.

Read and follow the manufacturer’s use, care and warning instructions. Use a respirator certified for the kind of contaminant involved. Check its approval and what it is designed to protect against. Do not use it for hazards outside those limits.

Keep track of your own device so you do not use someone else’s by mistake. Keep it clean and suitable for use. A dirty or poorly used device can create a health hazard rather than help.

Read the official Appendix D information. Ask the employer to provide and explain the actual information. The worksheet records who provided it, when and how.

Basis: 1910.134(c)(2)(i), (k)(6); Appendix D.

Lesson 3

Check which voluntary-use path applies

A filtering facepiece has the filter as part of the facepiece, or the whole facepiece is filter material. A common example is a disposable N95. A reusable elastomeric facepiece has a body made of material such as rubber or silicone, with separate filters or cartridges. These are not the same device category.

The rule has a narrow written-program exception. It applies when your only respirator use is voluntary use of filtering facepieces. OSHA does not require a medical review or fit test solely for that use. The employer still must check that it creates no hazard. It still must give you the Appendix D information.

Other devices need parts of a written plan. The plan must check your medical ability to use the device. It must also address cleaning, storage and care. The employer pays for any required medical review. Arrange the proper review before use. Do not clear yourself.

Fit tests for required use follow a different rule. They are not required solely for this voluntary use in air the employer has found nonhazardous. Follow the device instructions and the employer’s safe-use conditions. If use becomes required, reassess the full program before the task.

Basis: 1910.134(c)(2)(ii); OSHA interpretations 2018-04-24 and 2018-04-26.

Lesson 4

Use and care for the permitted device

Use only the device and conditions allowed by the employer’s review. Follow its instructions. A particle-filtering device does not protect against gases or vapors or add oxygen. Do not take it into unknown air, a spill area or a space that may lack oxygen.

Check condition and cleanliness as the instructions require. Do not use dirty, damaged or contaminated equipment. Keep it from mixing with another person’s gear. Do not wash a disposable device or its filter unless the manufacturer allows that treatment.

Use a clean storage method that protects the device from damage and contamination. Follow any limits on reuse and replacement. A reusable device may need specific cleaning, disinfection and maintenance. Ask who supplies the approved facilities, time and replacement parts.

If it makes breathing or safe work harder, get to safe air. Stop using it there. Ask for review. Use the site health or emergency route when needed. Do not post private medical details in the class.

Basis: 1910.134(c)(2); Appendix D; manufacturer instructions.

Lesson 5

Report changes and keep the records honest

The employer’s decision about optional use fits the work that was reviewed. A new material, more dust, a failed control or a new task can change it. Stop and ask for review before you rely on the old decision.

Explain the device’s limits and care steps in your own words. Ask about anything unclear. The employer’s record names the task, device and review of risks from use. It also records that Appendix D was given and any other steps that apply. Keep your medical details in the private health process.

Required use has annual training and fit-test rules. Those duties do not arise solely because you choose to use a filtering facepiece under the voluntary-use exception. Other rules or employer policy may set more conditions. Ask which applies.

This course uses lesson checks and a final. Score at least 80% and get every critical item right. You get three attempts per set. Review missed topics before a retry. These are course rules. A pass does not approve your device, give medical clearance or grant work permission. It does not record that the employer gave Appendix D.

Basis: 1910.134(c)(2), (k)(6); employer change process.

Primary sources reviewed October 21, 2026

Use the federal rule with actual manufacturer instructions, substance-specific rules and applicable State Plan requirements. Construction 1926.103 applies identical respiratory-protection requirements; that does not remove other construction duties.

Development inputs: the current SHP-007 Respiratory Protection Program approved development template (Library version 1); RAVS_Requirements (46).pdf, exported July 22, 2022, nine questions; and training inventory TR-008. Template approval and historical contractor review results are not course validation, current client acceptance or employer authorization. Historical employer names, responses and approval marks are not reproduced. The questionnaire’s Cal/OSHA references require current employer-specific review; no State Plan equivalence is asserted.