scope:

The requirements of this standard apply to the identification of air-purifying respirator canisters, cartridges and filters used to provide respiratory protection against gases, vapors or particles. These requirements apply to canisters, cartridges, and any high efficiency filters, whether encapsulated or un-encapsulated, used as components of air-purifying respirators. These requirements do not apply to and shall not be used to identify canisters, cartridges or filters for:

a) aviation respirators,

b) military respirators,

c) non-high efficiency filters, or

d) un-encapsulated respirator filters (e.g. filtering facepieces) except for high efficiency filters.

Users of this standard should be aware that regulatory agencies might have requirements that are different from this standard.

Purpose

The purpose of this standard is to establish a system of marking air-purifying respirator canisters, cartridges and filter containers by means of colors in order to:

1. Facilitate rapid identification of the canisters, cartridges, and filters by users.

2. Ensure color consistency among respirator manufacturers.