Respiratory Protective Equipment: COSHH Rules

Does COSHH Require RPE? (Short Answer)

COSHH does not require you to provide respiratory protective equipment. It requires you to prevent or adequately control exposure — and RPE is only permitted where you cannot achieve that by other means. Regulation 7(3) puts it last in a list of measures ranked "in order of priority", after process design, engineering controls and control at source.

So the honest answer to "do we need masks?" is usually another question: have you genuinely exhausted the controls that sit above them? If you have, then the RPE you choose has to be both adequate for the hazard and suitable for the individual wearing it — and for tight-fitting masks, proving suitability means fit testing.

Where RPE Sits in the Hierarchy

Regulation 7(1) sets the core duty:

"Every employer shall ensure that the exposure of his employees to substances hazardous to health is either prevented or, where this is not reasonably practicable, adequately controlled."

Regulation 7(3) then lists the protection measures to apply "in order of priority". Engineering controls and control at source come first. PPE arrives at 7(3)(c), and the wording is conditional rather than optional:

"where adequate control of exposure cannot be achieved by other means, the provision of suitable personal protective equipment in addition to the measures required by sub-paragraphs (a) and (b)"

That phrase — cannot be achieved by other means — is the whole test. It is not "whichever control is cheapest" or "whichever the workforce prefers". If extraction would control the exposure and you have issued masks instead, you have not met Regulation 7, however diligently the masks are worn. Our guide to COSHH control measures works through the full hierarchy, and the adequate control duty under Regulation 7 covers what "adequately controlled" is measured against.

This is why RPE and LEV testing are so often discussed together. If people are in masks because the extraction underperforms, the fix is the extraction.

RPE as a legitimate primary control

There are situations where RPE genuinely is the right answer, and it is worth naming them so the hierarchy does not read as a blanket prohibition:

Short-duration or infrequent tasks where installing extraction is not reasonably practicable — a quarterly filter change, an occasional confined-space entry.
Maintenance and breakdown work performed outside the normal controlled process.
Emergency and rescue situations.
As a supplement where engineering controls reduce exposure substantially but not quite to an acceptable level — common in welding fume and silica dust work.

What the hierarchy forbids is reaching for RPE first, or leaving it in place indefinitely as a substitute for a control you never got round to installing.

"Adequate" and "Suitable" — Two Separate Tests

RPE has to clear two distinct hurdles, and employers routinely pass the first while failing the second.

Adequate means the equipment is right for the hazard: the correct protection factor for the substance and the concentration present, and the right filter type for what is actually in the air. A dust mask does nothing about solvent vapour.

Suitable means it is right for the person and the job: it fits this wearer's face, it is compatible with their other PPE, and it can be worn for the duration of the task.

Regulation 7(9) adds a product-standard requirement on top, and it runs in two limbs — which are routinely stated the wrong way round.

The primary limb is 7(9)(a): PPE must "comply with any legal requirement which is applicable to that item of personal protective equipment". Regulation 7(12) defines that term — "'legal requirement' means any requirement of the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 2002 or Regulation (EU) 2016/425…". So this is the conformity-marking route: for ordinary commercial RPE, buying CE/UKCA-marked equipment made to a recognised standard is how you satisfy 7(9)(a). It is not improvising.

7(9)(b) is the residual limb, and it bites only "in the case of respiratory protective equipment, where no provision referred to in sub-paragraph (a) applies". Where that is the case, the RPE must:

"be of a type approved or shall conform to a standard approved, in either case, by the Executive."

That is HSE type-approval — a fallback for RPE no conformity regime covers, not an extra badge on top of a CE/UKCA mark. In practice most employers are discharging 7(9)(a), not 7(9)(b).

Fit Testing: Where the Duty Actually Comes From

This is the part most guidance gets slightly wrong, and it is worth being precise about.

The COSHH regulations do not contain the words "fit test". The requirement flows from the Approved Codes of Practice. HSE's Guidance on respiratory protective equipment (RPE) fit testing (October 2025) puts it this way:

"the Approved Codes of Practice (ACOPs) supporting the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH), the Control of Lead at Work Regulations, the Control of Asbestos Regulations, the Confined Spaces Regulations and the Ionising Radiations Regulations stipulate that tight-fitting RPE should be fit tested as part of the selection process."

That distinction matters for how you think about risk. An ACOP is not a regulation, but it carries a special evidential status — if you did not follow it, a court will find you at fault unless you can show you complied some other way. So "it is only in the ACOP" is not the reassurance it might sound like.

Two practical consequences:

Fit testing applies to tight-fitting facepieces — disposable half masks, reusable half masks, full-face masks. Loose-fitting hoods and helmets do not seal against the face and are not fit tested.
The test is specific to a make, model and size. A pass on one mask tells you nothing about a different one.

When a fit test has to be repeated

INDG479 is specific here. A fit test should be repeated:

"whenever there is a change to the RPE type, size, model or material, or whenever there is a change to the circumstances of the wearer that could alter the fit of the RPE"

It lists the wearer-side triggers as weight loss or gain, substantial dental work, facial changes such as scars or moles around the face seal area, facial piercings, and the introduction of other head-worn PPE. It also notes that "face shape will change through ageing alone", and recommends a system for reviewing when a repeat test is due.

There is no fixed statutory retest interval. Many employers settle on a review every two years as an administrative rhythm, which is a reasonable way to catch gradual change — but it is a policy choice, not a legal cycle, and it does not remove the duty to retest when something changes sooner.

The clean-shaven rule

Facial hair crossing the seal defeats a tight-fitting mask, and no amount of tightening compensates. INDG479 is blunt:

"Do not conduct fit tests if there is any hair growth between the wearer's skin and the facepiece sealing surface, such as stubble beard growth, beard, moustache, sideburns or low hairline, which cross the respirator sealing surface."

And on the ongoing obligation: "Inform wearers that they should be clean-shaven in the region of the face seal whenever they wear a tight-fitting facepiece at work."

This is a genuine management problem rather than a paperwork one. Where a worker cannot or will not be clean-shaven — for medical or religious reasons among others — the answer is loose-fitting powered RPE, which does not rely on a face seal. Fit-testing them into a mask that cannot seal is worse than useless, because it produces a record suggesting protection that is not there.

The seal check is not the fit test

A quick note on a common conflation. A pre-use wearer-seal check is the few seconds a worker spends confirming they have donned the mask correctly. INDG479: "a pre-use wearer-seal check is not a substitute for fit testing." Both are needed; they do different jobs.

Who can fit test

Fit testing "should be conducted by a competent person". Competence can be demonstrated through the Fit2Fit accreditation scheme, developed by the British Safety Industry Federation and supported by HSE — though the guidance is clear the scheme "is not compulsory and employers are free to take other action to comply with the law."

Maintenance and Records — Not the 14-Month Rule

Here is a distinction worth getting right, because the two intervals sit in adjacent subsections of the same regulation and get conflated constantly.

LEV has a hard maximum. Regulation 9(2)(a) requires thorough examination and test "at least once every 14 months", or shorter for Schedule 4 processes.

RPE is different. Regulation 9(3) requires that:

"the employer shall ensure that thorough examination and, where appropriate, testing of that equipment is carried out at suitable intervals"

"Suitable intervals" is a judgement you have to make and be able to justify, not a number handed to you. HSE's HSG53 guidance commonly points to monthly examination for reusable RPE in regular use. Single-use disposable masks are not thoroughly examined — they are discarded.

Record-keeping is common to both. Regulation 9(4):

"Every employer shall keep a suitable record of the examinations and tests carried out in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3) and of repairs carried out as a result of those examinations and tests, and that record or a suitable summary thereof shall be kept available for at least 5 years from the date on which it was made."

Read the scope carefully, because this is the point most RPE record systems get wrong. The five years attaches to the examination and test records required by paragraphs (2) and (3), and to repairs arising from them. It does not reach fit test reports. Regulation 9(3) is expressly limited to RPE "other than disposable respiratory protective equipment", whereas fit testing applies to disposable half masks too — and, as above, the Regulations contain no fit-testing duty at all.

INDG479 splits the two the same way. The fit test report gets an availability requirement and no retention period — "The fit test report should be available to the employee and accessible to others such as enforcement authorities" — while the five years is placed on RPE examinations: "You should record RPE examinations and tests – and, where appropriate, any repairs made – and retain them for at least five years."

So there is no statutory retention period for a fit test report. In practice you will want the current one to hand for as long as that facepiece is issued to that wearer, since it is your evidence the RPE was correctly selected — but that is a practical matter of your own choosing, not the Regulation 9(4) five-year duty.

Making Sure It Is Actually Worn

Providing correct RPE is not the end of the duty. Regulation 8(1):

"Every employer who provides any control measure, other thing or facility in accordance with these Regulations shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that it is properly used or applied as the case may be."

Employees carry a matching duty under 8(2) to "make full and proper use" of it, return it to its storage, and "if he discovers a defect therein, report it forthwith to his employer."

"All reasonable steps" is what an inspector probes. Training, supervision, somewhere clean to store masks, a straightforward way to report a damaged one, and visible follow-up when the rules are ignored. A box of FFP3s on a shelf and an assumption is not a control measure.

Health Surveillance Still Applies

Issuing RPE does not remove the health surveillance duty. If the substance is a respiratory sensitiser, surveillance is triggered by exposure to the substance, not by the absence of protection. Wearing a mask reduces exposure; it does not delete the obligation to check whether people are being harmed. Work with wood dust is a common example of both duties running together.

RPE Compliance Checklist

Keeping RPE Records Straight

RPE is one of the more record-heavy control measures in COSHH — per-person fit tests tied to specific mask models, examination dates for reusable equipment, and a five-year statutory retention duty on the examination and repair records. Once you have more than a handful of wearers, spreadsheets start losing the thread between who was tested on what and when it is due again.

COSHHmate is being built to hold control measures and their dates alongside the assessments that call for them, so an expired fit test or an overdue examination surfaces before an inspector finds it. Pricing will be a flat monthly fee with no per-user charges. To get your COSHH records in order, join the waitlist.

Sources

This is general guidance based on the COSHH Regulations 2002 and published HSE guidance. Protection factors, filter selection and examination intervals depend on the substance and the work — check the regulations and take advice from a competent occupational hygienist or your fit-test provider for your specific situation. Not legal or safety advice.