NPPTL Respirator Assessments to Support the COVID-19 Response

Beyond Shelf Life/Stockpiled Assessment Results

NPPTL has completed Beyond Shelf Life/Stockpiled Assessments for the products listed below. In addition to the assessments below, NIOSH conducted a study of stockpiled respirators across the United States. The results of this study can be found here.

The products tested are NIOSH-approved, or, were NIOSH-approved in the past. Some of these products have been voluntarily rescinded by the manufacturer, and in some cases, the manufacturer is no longer making the product.

NPPTL makes no representation as to the authenticity of the samples received and assessed, and cannot attest to the storage conditions. As part of its standard respirator approval process for NIOSH-approved respirators, NIOSH conducts a comprehensive quality assurance review of the quality process and manufacturing site. None of these reviews were conducted during this limited assessment

NIOSH regulation sets the minimum quality and performance requirements for the approval of respirators. NIOSH does not have requirements for shelf life or storage conditions for particulate-only air purifying respirators (APRs), such as filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs). The approval holder (i.e. the entity that is granted the approval from NIOSH) is responsible for understanding how their products’ design and performance may be affected by various use or storage conditions and must provide instruction for establishing the proper use, storage, and maintenance procedures for their approved products, which may include designating a shelf life. The FFR packaging (such as the box) must include NIOSH-approved user instructions and label information, and if designated by the manufacturer, recommendations on shelf life. Additionally, some approval holders also disseminate recommendations related to storage and shelf life through resources such as user and web notices. The respirators tested were generally not designed for long-term storage.

The results presented herein are for a subset of FFRs that are NIOSH-approved, or, were NIOSH-approved, beyond or approaching their designated shelf life, that were provided to NPPTL for assessment.