Respiratory Protection Standards

Standards Australia’s Technical Committee SF-010, Occupational Respiratory Protection is responsible for standardisation in the field of occupational respiratory protection. The committee’s scope covers required testing procedures and guidance for selection, use, and maintenance of respiratory equipment in accordance with government policy. SF-010 is the National Mirror Committee for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee ISO/TC 94/SC 15 Respiratory protective devices and works to align and harmonise with international standards where possible.

SF-010 is committed to providing relevant user groups with information on the change and invites industry to attend an upcoming free webinar that will highlight important aspects of this transition.

By 2030, Australia and New Zealand will be the first countries to adopt a suite of 30 respiratory protection standards that will replace two existing Australian standards*. These newly adopted ISO standards have a much clearer and specific focus on what the user of the product needs in terms of performance. They’ve added new criteria for classifying products, such as the impact of worker breathing rate and protection, the level of protection based on how product combination performance (not type based), and a broader selection of filters for different gases or vapours.

Learn more about the changes here.

*The two Australian standards are:

- AS/NZS 1715:2009 - Selection, use and maintenance of respiratory protective equipment
- AS/NZS 1716:2012 - Respiratory Protective Devices will be replaced by the relevant ISO series which addresses Performance, Classification, Terms and Definitions and Test Methods.