When can respiratory protective equipment (RPE) be used?

• When you might still breathe in contaminated air, despite other controls you have in place e.g. extraction systems
• When there is short-term or infrequent exposure and using other controls is impractical
• Whilst you are putting other controls in place
• When you need to provide RPE for safe exit in an emergency
• When you need to provide RPE for emergency work or when there is a temporary failure of controls
• When emergency rescue by trained personnel is necessary