Head-and-Face Anthropometric Survey of U.S. Respirator Users

Abstract

Sizing data generated by the military for use in fitting respirators have been the normative basis for commercial respirator sizing. Anthropometric data developed for males and females of military age in the 1950s and 1960s are still in use today and form the only comprehensive body of information available on this subject. The twofold objective of this study was to: (1) develop an anthropometric database detailing the face size distributions of respirator users using both traditional measurement methods and three-dimensional scanning systems; and (2) use the database to establish fit test panels to be incorporated into the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's respirator certification and international standards. A stratified sampling plan was used with three age strata, two gender strata, and four race/ethnic group strata. The plan called for an equal sample size of 166 in each cell. Subjects were obtained at 41 sites from 8 states. In addition to height and weight, 18 facial dimensions and neck circumferences were measured using traditional methods. A total of 3997 subjects were measured using traditional methods, and 1013 of them were also scanned using a 3-D head scanner. As this was a volunteer sample, subjects did not appear in the specific proportions needed for the sampling plan. The resulting data were weighted to correspond to the U.S. population. This article presents the summary statistics for the traditional measurement data only. Multivariate analyses of the data from this study and military data revealed that using historical, military data would be inadequate for describing the anthropometric variability of the current U.S. work force.