How to tell if your N95 Respirator is NIOSH Approved

"Defining “NIOSH Approved”

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the federal agency responsible for testing and approving respirators used in U.S. workplace settings.

A NIOSH-approved N95 is the most common type of filtering facepiece respirator (FFR), which is a type of disposable respirator meant to form a tight seal to the face, removing particles from the air as you breathe through it. This includes all types of particles, such as bacteria, viruses, and dust. When used in an occupational setting, NIOSH-approved respirators, including N95s, are meant to be used as part of a workplace’s respiratory protection program. These programs are regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and must include specific elements such as medical evaluations, fit testing, and training. If your respirator has been approved by NIOSH, you can be confident that it is working as expected to protect you as long as:

• It is properly maintained
• It is worn and used correctly
• It fits properly
• It is replaced as recommended by the manufacturer

NIOSH only approves respirators that pass its strict quality assurance and performance requirements. As part of these tests, NIOSH uses a near worst-case penetrating aerosol size (i.e., particles that are best able to make it through a filter), and an N95 respirator must not allow more than 5% of these particles to penetrate through. This ensures that every respirator that passes these tests will filter potentially hazardous particles as expected when used in real-world situations.

How to tell if an N95 is NIOSH Approved

The easiest way to tell if your N95 is NIOSH approved is to search for it on the NIOSHCertified Equipment List (CEL). All NIOSHapproved respirators have a testing and certification (TC) approval number (e.g., TC 84A-XXXX), which must be printed on the respirator. The CEL has an option to search by the TC approval number, which will also help identify any private labels (alternate brand names) associated with that approval number. If you search a NIOSH TC approval number and no results are found within the CEL, that means it is not a valid NIOSH approval number and the product is not NIOSH approved. NIOSH also provides frequently updated lists of all approved FFRs by type (including N95s) and model/part numbers, which include the manufacturer’s instructions describing how to put the respirator on correctly.

Additionally, respirators that have earned NIOSH approval will have specific labeling printed on the facepiece. You may see some respirators on the market labeled as “N95,” but if a respirator does not contain all of the components of the required label, it is not a NIOSH-approved respirator and, therefore, cannot be relied on to provide the same level of respiratory protection..."
N95 mask approval