Breathing apparatus is a protective device that covers the nose and mouth or the entire face in order to protect the wearers against dangerous weather environments. Some of the respirators are half masks that fit tightly to the face and cover the mouth and nose. These masks cover the face from the hairline to the bottom of the chin. Some masks are full masks in the shape of a helmet that cover the head completely.

In addition, there are two large respirator groups in terms of operation. A group of masks are masks that remove dirt from the air and provide the user with fresh air. A group of masks are masks that provide fresh air from an unpolluted source. Generally, this second type of respirator is used for very dangerous exposures.

The main purpose of using respirators is to prevent exposure to air contaminated with people, harmful dusts, fumes, gases, vapors or sprays.

Numerous standards have been developed by domestic and foreign organizations that describe the features of respirators, test methods and marking criteria.

A few respiratory device compatibility tests provided by our organization EUROLAB are:

• TS EN 269 Respiratory protective devices - Respirator used with the hood, powered by power (with battery) and providing fresh air with a hose
• TS EN 402 Respiratory protective devices - Self-contained lung-controlled demand-type open-circuit breathing apparatus with full face mask or mouthpiece assembly using compressed air - For escape
• TS EN 137 Respiratory protective devices - Self-contained open circuit compressed air breathing apparatus
• TS EN 1146 Respiratory protective devices - Self-contained open circuit compressed air breathing apparatus with escape hood
• TS EN 12083 Protective respirators - Hose breathing techniques (mask-free filters) - Dust filters, gas filters and combined filters
• TS EN 12942 Respiratory protective devices - Power assisted filter devices with full face masks, half masks or quarter masks
• TS EN 132 Respiratory protection devices - Terms, descriptions and pictograms
• TS EN 134 Respiratory protection devices - Nomenclature of components
• TS EN 135 Respiratory equipment - List of equivalent terms
• TS 6781 EN ISO 4135 Anesthesia and breathing equipment - Terms and recipes