Masks must not be worn for more than half an hour is misread

In recent days, most areas of China have been affected by haze and afflictions. Masks have become a must-have item. Recently, a microblogging statement “German stipulated that masks may not be worn for more than half an hour” triggered heated discussions. Experts from the technical department of 3M China Ltd. stated that this may be misreading.

The German regulation (regulation number BGR190) does require time limits for the use of respirators in the workplace, but this provision is purely based on the requirements of the insurance (safeguards) clause and applies only to employers requiring employees to wear their breath in the workplace. Case. The establishment of this insurance clause is based on the expectation that there is a high-intensity operation in the employee's work. Simply speaking, only in the extremely harsh working environment, the filtered particles will quickly clog the mask filter, resulting in increased respiratory resistance.

In Germany, for example, when an employee needs to wear a respirator at work for more than 30 minutes per day, especially when the employee's job intensity is high, or the working environment is subject to high temperature and humidity, or other types of protection are also required at the same time. Supplies (PPE) (such as protective clothing or heavy work clothes, etc.), they will first undergo a medical examination (regulation number G26), to determine their physical conditions suitable for the use of respirator, at the same time, the time limit for different types of respirator in each use There are specific regulations* (see annex), and a 30-minute break is required between each use of the respirators. But not every time you wear 30 minutes, you must rest for 30 minutes, so the argument that is circulated on the Internet is inaccurate.

In countries other than Germany, China, the United States, and Europe, there are no laws that restrict the use of respirators because of respiratory resistance. This German rule also does not apply to ordinary people choosing to wear respirators in their daily lives. It is worth noting that: Respirator standards in various countries have clear limits on respiratory resistance to ensure that healthy adults do not harm health by wearing the respirator for 8 hours every day under normal labor intensity.

Respirators are designed and used for healthy adults and are not designed for young children and older adults. For those with cardiopulmonary diseases, 3M does not recommend wearing a respirator. It is recommended that these special groups consult a professional physician for advice.

If we do not combine the above factors, it is unscientific to simply talk about the time limit of wearing a mask or try to directly define the wearing time limit of the respirator without considering any background.

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