Section 39.584. Respirators

(a) Respirators shall be of approved types. They shall be classified as follows according to the hazard they are designed to protect against, such as dust, fumes and mist or other atmospheric particulate matter:

(1) Type A. Mechanically generated dusts resulting principally from the disintegration of a solid, such as the dust clouds produced in the various processes of mining, quarrying, and tunneling and the various industrial operations of grinding, crushing and general processing of minerals.

(2) Type B. Fumes of various metals (usually their chemical compounds, as oxides or carbonates), such as lead, mercury (except mercury vapor), manganese, copper, chromium, iron, cadmium, zinc, magnesium, aluminum, antimony and arsenic resulting from sublimation or the condensation of their vapor, or from the chemical reactions between their vapor and gases.

(3) Type C. Mists as produced by spray coating with paint and vitreous enamels, chromic acid mist as produced in chromium plating, and other mists of materials whose liquid vehicle does not produce harmful gases or vapors.

(4) Types AB, AC, and the like. Combinations of the preceding types.

(5) Type D. Combinations to include all of the preceding types.

(b) In addition to the types listed in this section, respirators for protection against a single substance of any of the above types of suspensions shall be approved as suitable for that substance.