Beware of N95 respirator knock-offs

Whether you are looking for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for yourself or your employees, N95 respirators have been difficult to find over the past several months.

The goal is to keep you and your pesticide handlers safe when they are working around pesticides. However, once you finally locate a respirator, you need to examine it closely before purchasing it to make sure it is not a counterfeit. These counterfeit respirators are typically marketed and sold under the guise of being a NIOSH-approved product, but they are not. NIOSH is the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and they issue recommendations for respirator use and provide testing, approval, and certification to verify that respirators in the workplace meet specific standards.

You can take several steps to verify that the respirator you purchase is a legitimate NIOSH approved respirator. First look for a NIOSH approval label on or in the respirator packaging. Next, look for a NIOSH approval (TC) number on the respirator. Signs that your respirator is a fake include the misspelling of NIOSH on the respirator, the respirator has a decorative fabric, the presence of ear loops rather than headbands, etc. For a complete list of ways to identify a counterfeit N95 respirator and see examples, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

When looking at a NIOSH approved particulate respirator, the following information should be found on the respirator as shown in the image below.

Photo credit: Linda Fetzer

The NIOSH name will appear in block letters on the respirator along with the brand name or registered trademark. Typically, in the center bottom will be an approval number along with the filter class which is either N, P, or R and the filter efficiency level (e.g., 95, 99, or 100). The final information on the face mask will be a model number and a lot number. Purchase your PPE from reliable local sources or reputable online sources.

Where trade names appear, no discrimination is intended, and no endorsement by Penn State Extension is implied.

– Linda Fetzer, Penn State Extension