[TheForge] The Beard vs. the Respirator

[Woolley]

>> I need to ask this question before I shave. I wear a respirator when  
>> I'm grinding, so as to minimize the amount of metal dust I inhale,  
>> but I have a beard that interferes with the effectiveness of the  
>> mask. The guy at my local Safety Store told me in no uncertain 
>> terms,  "If you don't shave the beard off, the mask will never work  
>> properly," which is what I was noticing while wearing it. He told me  
>> that there is no respirator that works on guys with beards... they  
>> all need skin contact.

I have worked many oil refinery shutdowns as a boilermaker.  I you don't 
shave they won't even fit test you.  If you refuse you don't work the 
shutdown.  You cant get a good fit with a beard.  The question I would 
ask is, am I getting a good enough fit.  Where are you working, in a 
ventilated shop?  How much grinding are you doing?  Are you cutting with 
plasma arc?  I know a lot of boilermakers who worked a lot of years 
without respirators who are still kicking.  But I would never tell 
anyone to not wear a respirator.  BTW there are respirators for all 
these contaminants, dust, fumes, etc.  Call 3M's tech people they will 
tell you exactly what you need, low profile for under welding shields, 
the lot.  You don't need fresh air masks for stick welding in a shop[ 
with a fan and a window in it, that stuff is for going into benzene 
towers with a carbon arc and the like. 
 

Best,
Bill Woolley