Victorian Respiratory Protection Program for Healthcare Workers

Given the significant uptake in usage of respiratory protective equipment (RPE) and the subsequent need for healthcare workers to be trained and supported to wear and use RPE, the Victorian Government has developed a Respiratory Protection Program (RPP).

The RPP details  fit testing requirements for all Victorian health services and the methodology of performing this service.

It states that for healthcare workers in healthcare settings, qualitative fit testing is not recommended.

Instead, it is preferred that quantitative fit testing is conducted using specialised particle counting equipment (such as a PortaCount™ Plus machine) to provide quantitative, or numerical, measurements of the amount of face seal leakage present when a given RPE model is donned by a particular user.

Read the Respiratory Protection Program Guideline published by Department of Health Victoria – Aug 2022.