Industrial Hygiene & Safety

Occupational health and safety instruments are bought against a regulation rather than a preference, which makes calibration status and sensor age the deciding factors on any used purchase.

Respirator fit testing

Quantitative fit testing is a legal requirement in most jurisdictions for tight-fitting respirators, and the TSI PortaCount is the instrument nearly every programme uses. The distinction that matters is N95 capability: the 8038 and 8048 test filtering facepieces, while the 8030 and 8040 cover elastomeric respirators only.

The 8048 adds FitPro Ultra software, which automates the OSHA and CSA protocols and manages records. Whichever model you buy, budget for annual factory service — the internal alcohol cartridge and optics are consumable, and a fit tester out of calibration invalidates the records it produced.

Sensors, lamps and pumps age independently of the instrument

Electrochemical gas sensors have a fixed service life whether or not the detector was used, PID lamps degrade and need cleaning, and sampling pump flow drifts. A recently calibrated instrument with old sensors will still need sensors.

We state sensor and lamp age separately from calibration date, flow-verify every pump against a calibrator, and confirm which sensors are actually fitted rather than repeating the original order specification.

Common questions