Braun had the opportunity to work with Caseify before it was released. “I thought it sounded really cool, but I wasn’t sure how that would play out because I had never been involved with anything AI before.”

Supplied air respirators can be divided into demand-type (where air only flows into the facepiece as needed by the user), pressure-demand (which maintains a positive pressure in the facepiece), and continuous flow (for escape only). Additionally, SCBAs can be open circuit (where air is not recycled) or closed circuit (where air is recycled). Demand-type open circuit SCBAs are not suitable for IDLH environments.

Workers should use respirators for protection from contaminants in the air if other hazard control methods are not practical or possible under the circumstances. Respirators should not be the first choice for respiratory protection in workplaces. They should only be used:

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy, currency and completeness of the information, CCOHS does not guarantee, warrant, represent or undertake that the information provided is correct, accurate or current. CCOHS is not liable for any loss, claim, or demand arising directly or indirectly from any use or reliance upon the information.

Respirator mask

A qualified healthcare professional should examine the medical and psychological fitness of workers. This evaluation should be done before they are assigned to work in areas where respirators may be required. The workers must be physically fit to carry out the work while wearing respiratory equipment. They must also be psychologically comfortable (such as not have fears or be claustrophobic) about wearing respirators.

Filters are made of material that is designed to trap particles as you breathe. Cartridges contain a material that absorbs gases and vapours. It is very important to make sure you are using the right filter or cartridge for the chemicals or substances present in the workplace.

Since filters capture particles, caution must be exercised to always check that these filters are not clogged as it makes it harder for air to pass through. Cartridges can also become "full" or saturated.  They will stop working and "breakthrough" will occur – this term means that the gases or vapours will leak through the cartridge. Both cartridges and filters must be replaced on a regular basis by using the manufacturer's recommendations (usually determined by using warning properties or end-of-service indicators).

Days where an officer is going from one incident to the next with no time between calls are stressful enough. Falling behind on report-writing only compounds the stress and adds to the mountain of paperwork at the end of the day.

Gas Mask

Braun has continued to use the Caseify app since late 2023. “One particular day I had five rather involved cases and needed the narratives before the end of shift. I did all the narratives in between driving from one call to another. So, what would have taken me no less than four hours easily took me less than 30 minutes.”

Contact the government department responsible for health and safety in your jurisdiction to find out additional information on regulatory requirements for respiratory protection.

respirator中文

It’s important to note that Caseify does not replace the need for the individual officer to review and verify the accuracy of the reports it generates, but it significantly speeds up the process.

Supplied-air respirators may have either tight-fitting or loose-fitting respiratory inlets. Respirators with tight-fitting respiratory inlets have half or full facepieces. Types with loose-fitting respiratory inlets can be hoods or helmets that cover the head and neck, or loose-fitting facepieces with rubber or fabric side shields. These respirators are supplied with air through airlines.

Choosing a respirator is a complicated matter. Experienced safety professionals or occupational hygienists who are familiar with the actual workplace environment are the staff who should select the proper respirator. They can choose a suitable respirator only after they have evaluated all relevant factors. This decision includes considering the limitations of each class of respirator.

Employers should have a written respiratory protection program that describes the proper procedures for selecting and operating respiratory protective equipment. The correct use of a respirator is just as important as selecting the proper respirator. The respiratory protection program must also address how to find out what hazards are present, how much protection the workers will need, and describe how to wear and care for the respirator.

3M respirator Selection Guide

Without a complete respiratory protection program, workers may not receive the best protection from a respirator even if it is the correct choice for a specific job. A respiratory protection program includes several components such as:

There are some combinations of air line respirators and SCBAs that allow workers to work for extended periods in oxygen-deficient areas or where there are airborne toxic contaminants. The auxiliary or backup SCBA source allows the worker to escape with an emergency source of air if the airline source fails.

Once the narrative is generated, the officer can review it for accuracy and make any necessary edits before sharing the narrative to their department’s incident reporting software.

But two friends – a law enforcement officer and a Navy veteran and app developer – found a way out of that Catch-22. Knowing that artificial intelligence can process and analyze massive amounts of information almost instantaneously, the duo realized AI could be leveraged to alleviate the heavy burden of report writing. So, for the last eight months, they spent their talents and free time developing an app for law enforcement officers that would do just that.

Some types of atmospheres place the worker in immediate danger because the concentrations of hazardous contaminant would impair the ability to leave the work area (self-rescue) or potentially cause irreversible health effects, serious injury, or death in a matter of minutes.

Supplied-air respirators (SARs) supply clean air from a compressed air tank or through an air line. This air is not from the work room area. The air supplied in tanks or from compressors must meet certain standards for purity and moisture content (such as CSA Standard Z180.1 Compressed Breathing Air and Systems).

Administrative controls are generally most effective when combined with other control measures. Administrative controls limit workers' exposures by scheduling reduced work times in contaminated areas or by implementing other such work rules. These control measures have many limitations because the hazard is not removed.

Caseify then leverages artificial intelligence to analyze the case files and generate detailed narratives based on the content. The AI is programmed to remove potential bias and avoid miscommunication, resulting in a narrative with better punctuation, grammar and clarity – essentially teaching officers how to properly word their narratives to avoid biased reporting. The app also works with over 100 languages, allowing officers to take statements in other languages without a translator present.

NIOSH N95

To determine IDLH level of a contaminant, consult the NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards or NIOSH's Table of IDLH values.

“When you’re writing the reports, everything must be extremely accurate. You don’t want to put words in other people’s mouths or make assumptions about their thoughts or feelings,” said Officer Tracy Braun, who has been in law enforcement for over 20 years. She now serves as a school resource officer with Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education Police Department in Georgia.

Workers with beards, long sideburns, or even stubble may not wear respirators because the hair breaks the seal between the skin and the respirator mask. Wearing eyeglasses could also break the respirator seal. This break means that the respirator mask will "leak" and will not provide the needed respiratory protection. Also, if a worker has facial scars or acne, the facial skin may not be able to form a good seal with a respirator mask.

“Every officer I’ve ever shown the app to, I get the wide-eyed look. Their jaw drops and I see the look of awe and wonder on their face when they read a narrative for the first time,” Braun added. “To see an officer experience that is such a joy because I personally know how it has absolutely transformed my life and the time I get back with my family.”

Air-purifying respirators can remove contaminants in the air that you breathe by filtering out particulates (such as dusts, metal fumes, mists, etc.). Other APRs purify air by adsorbing gases or vapours on a sorbent (adsorbing material) in a cartridge or canister. They are tight-fitting and are available in several forms:

Officers are also under pressure to not only put in a full shift, but make sure they don’t fall too far behind in writing reports. Braun warned, “The longer you wait, the more chances of forgetting something – and it could be something which would seem so small on the outside but can be pivotal to any sort of narrative.”

In an era where most law enforcement agencies are short staffed, time spent writing reports – while important – is time spent not patrolling the streets, not preventing and investigating crimes and not responding to emergencies. But, when officers do write reports, they can’t shortchange the process. The information must be accurate, thorough and unbiased – or they risk undermining the case.

Get covered on the basics of PPE, including practical tips for safe use, PPE programs, limitations and legal responsibilities.

PPE

Not only does Caseify alleviate the time burden – saving individual officers up to 10 hours per week, according to other users – it also alleviates some of the stress officers feel when they are behind in their report writing or don’t feel confident in their writing skills.

“He opened the app, clicked ‘add attachment,’ and I started recording my description of the case file into the app. When I finished talking, he clicked on ‘generate narrative,’ and handed me the phone to view the results. I was blown away!” said Braun. “I had a full narrative and supplemental divided and labeled appropriately. Having a journalism degree is a bonus in law enforcement, but I’m sad to say it outwrites me every single time.”

Caseify also adheres to the highest level of data privacy and security, so officers can feel confident in using Caseify to make the dreaded task of report writing more efficient while improving quality.

Ventilator

Use the safety data sheet (SDS) for guidance on the requirements of the particular respiratory hazard. The CSA Standard Z94.4 Selection, Use and Care of Respirators outlines a respirator selection decision logic model in more detail.

Officers can use their iPhone to record witness statements, write field notes, scan documents and take photos. The information is organized and stored locally on the user’s device, maximizing security while allowing use of Caseify’s file storage and management systems while offline.

Respiratory hazards can include airborne contaminants such as biological contaminants, dusts, mists, fumes, and gases, or oxygen-deficient atmospheres. Note that more than one respiratory hazard can be present at the same time.

PAPR

“Caseify gives you the ability to stay caught up on your reports, making work mentally easier for officers,” said Braun. “It takes a lot of stress off us. There’s less confusion, less chance of error, better reports and better narratives.”

There are too many types of situations to cover them all fully here. However, the following questions represent part of "decision logic" that a safety professional or occupational hygienist can use when selecting a respirator:

It may seem that today’s police officers are stuck in a proverbial Catch-22. Fewer officers mean longer shifts and more calls that make it even harder to get that all-important report writing done. Falling behind on report-writing done can lead to errors and additional time wasted making corrections – which leads to yet more stress.

A hazard control program consists of all steps necessary to protect workers from exposure to a hazardous substance, the training and procedures required to monitor workers' health and exposure to hazards such as chemicals, materials, or substances, or other types of hazards such as noise and vibration. A written workplace hazard control program should outline which methods are being used to control the exposure and how these controls will be monitored for effectiveness.

Braun described an extensive case she was working to one of the developers, who suggested testing the Caseify app to organize, condense, clarify and generate a narrative. The case included a file an inch thick and spanned more than a year.

After elimination and substitution, well -designed and maintained engineering controls are the preferred methods of controlling worker exposure to hazardous contaminants in the air. These control methods include:

There are different classes of particulate filters, depending on the particulate material. They are also classified based on levels of oil resistance and filter efficiency. Oil can break down certain types of filters which means it is important to know the materials you are working with at all times and always select the right cartridge for your respirator.

Caseify, a case management and report-writing app for iPhone, gives individual police officers an easy-to-use, inexpensive way to gather case information and generate a detailed and accurate narrative in a fraction of the time it would take by hand.

“It’s very easy for some officers to unintentionally put their feelings or assumptions into narratives, and that can be extremely detrimental to a case if or when it ever goes to court,” said Braun. “Depending on how involved your case is, it can be very challenging and time consuming to make sure the narratives are written in an unbiased voice.”

“I got into law enforcement so I could write reports,” said no one ever. Although police academies don’t typically spend much time training officers how to write report narratives, report writing is a mandatory and critically important part of the job. It is also one of the most time-consuming – a 2021 survey by Nuance Communications found most officers spend up to a third of their work time writing incident reports or completing other documentation.

Caseify is an iPhone-based app that officers can use on-the-go to capture evidence, record narratives and create reports.

There are also combination air-purifying and atmosphere supplying respirators. These devices will offer worker protection if the supplied-air system fails when the appropriate air-purifier units are selected. These respirators cannot be used in oxygen-deficient areas or where the air concentration of a contaminant exceeds the IDLH level.

Time to write accurate, thorough and unbiased reports can be hard to find. For Braun, that time usually came at the end of a full shift, which interfered with quality family time. “I can’t tell you how many family functions, birthdays, holidays, school events and important projects I missed in the last 20 years due to working past the end of my shift to complete reports. Some police departments will look at it as the officer’s inability to manage their time properly, but, in reality, it has nothing to do with time management – it has to do with caseload, complexity of those cases, and all the other duties consuming our time. So, a good officer just does what they must, and unfortunately you lose your own valuable time.”

“Once an officer starts getting behind, that seems to snowball,” said Braun. “Then you have the stress of `Are the narratives correct? Did I forget something?’ Especially if you have back-to-back calls, you don’t want to confuse your first call with your third call with your seventh call of the day.”