Comment from Ward, Denita, et al; UW Health Employee Health Services
UW Health Employee Health ServicesSupportAcademic
Summary: Representatives from the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison, support the proposal to eliminate medical evaluation requirements for filtering facepiece respirators and loose-fitting powered air-purifying respirators. They argue that these respirators impose minimal physiological burden and that their internal data shows a negligible rate of employee denials, making the current requirements an unnecessary administrative and financial burden.
To: U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Re: Amending the Medical Evaluation Requirements in the Respiratory Protection Standard for Certain Types of Respirators (29 CFR 1910.134)
Docket No.: OSHA-2025-0006
Submitted By: Jane Pearson, MD; Ashley Buys, MPH, MLS (ASCP)CM, CIC; Denita Ward, DNP, FNP-C
Title/Organization: Employee Health and Wellbeing Medical Director; Director; Nurse Practitioner / University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison, WI
Contact Information: UW Health Employee Health Services, 700 University Bay Drive, Madison, WI 53705, 608-263-7535 (office)
Date: June 23, 2026
Support for Eliminating Medical Evaluation Requirements and Adopting Triennial Fit Testing for Filtering Facepiece Respirators