#safetysharable - OSHA provides guidance on wearing cloth facemasks indoors
I've said many times over the pasts months that there are some real concerns with the way we adopted the practice of wearing cloth facemasks. Don't get me wrong. This post isn't anti-facemask. However as a safety professional understanding what goes into wearing PPE, the universal adoption of cloth facemasks into society made me a bit nervous. Who is teaching the masses about the limitations of facemasks? Who is teaching the the general population how to care for facemasks? How do we reliably relay the warning signs of when PPE isn't working? How do we assess the user understands all the information given and is qualified to wear the facemask? Call me crazy, but I'm not sure my connections on Facebook are qualified, despite their catchy and yet totally inaccurate memes. OSHA recently provided great guidance for proper cloth facemask usage. It comes with a reminder of the hierarchy of hazard control. Where social distancing of 6' is an option, that should supersede cloth facemasks. https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/heatstress/covid-19-cloth-coverings-indoor-heat.pdf