Face Fit Testing
A mask only protects the person wearing it if it seals to their face. Face fit testing proves it does, for that person and that make, model and size of mask. Delivered on your site across the UK, with records you can produce on request.
How Face Fit Testing works with OccuMed
Buying good respiratory protective equipment is the easy part. Faces are not a standard shape, and a mask that seals on one person may leak on the next. Where an employee relies on tight-fitting RPE to control exposure, the law expects you to have established that it fits, and to be able to show it.
Testing is per person, per make, model and size. Someone who passes on one mask has not passed on another, and a wearer who changes mask needs retesting. We test on your site, work through shifts rather than pulling teams off the job, and give you a record for every wearer.
Where someone fails, that is useful information rather than a problem. It usually means the mask is the wrong model or size for them, and we tell you what to try instead. What it must not mean is quietly issuing the same mask anyway. Facial hair at the sealing surface breaks the seal, and no amount of testing changes that. Clean shaven at the seal on the day of the test, and every day the mask is worn. Where an employee cannot or will not shave, the answer is a different form of RPE, and we will tell you what your options are.
- 01
Qualitative Fit Testing
Taste-based testing for disposable and half-mask respirators, suitable for most routine RPE programmes and quick to deliver at volume.
- 02
Quantitative Fit Testing
Instrument-based testing that measures leakage numerically, giving a recorded fit factor. Required for full-face masks and preferred where higher protection factors are relied on.
- 03
On-Site Delivery
We come to you and work around your shift pattern. Testing is quick per person, so a full day clears a substantial number of wearers with minimal disruption.
- 04
Records for Every Wearer
A record for each person, each mask make, model and size, and each test result, held for you and produced on request.
- 05
Fail Management
Where a wearer fails, we advise on alternative models and sizes and retest, rather than leaving you with an employee and no working RPE.
- 06
Programme Review
vAdvice on when retesting is needed, how face fit sits alongside your COSHH assessments, and where your RPE selection is creating avoidable failures.
In summary
- Prove your tight-fitting RPE actually seals, wearer by wearer.
- On-site testing that works around shifts, with records for every mask model.
- Practical advice where someone fails, not just a result.
