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How to keep your FFP3 cover aligned with a changing workforce?

FFP3 (filtering facepiece class 3) is the highest-protection category of tight-fitting particulate respirator under BS EN 149 and is used in healthcare to reduce inhalation of fine airborne particles, including infectious aerosols and pathogens. Users include employees in emergency departments, intensive care, respiratory medicine, infectious diseases, anaesthesia, theatres, bronchoscopy, resuscitation, mortuary services and ambulance roles, among others.

Tight-fitting FFP3 respirators must be fit-tested before use, and fit-checked whenever they are put on. Where spectacles, visors or other head-worn personal protective equipment are also required, these must be compatible with the respirator and considered during fit testing. This means your FFP3 programme must keep pace with new starters, rotations, redeployments, and changes in masks. Simply having enough FFP3 stock available therefore gives you limited resilience unless the right employees have passed tests on the masks available to them.

Fire Safe International can help you plan testing around your real-time staffing needs and mask availability, with clear priorities for who must be tested, which respirators they need to be tested with and how results are recorded across your organisation.

How we support you:

  • Plan testing around your clinical priorities

    We can help you organise testing by clinical area, procedure, site, shift and respirator model, so appointments go first to the employees most likely to need FFP3 protection. We provide qualitative or quantitative testing as appropriate and record the wearer, make, model and size tested. The resulting test information can support updates to your Electronic Staff Record or local FFP3 register, subject to your organisation’s own systems, data-handling procedures and administrative arrangements.

  • Resolve failed fits before they affect deployment

    When a mask fails, we can review the fitting technique, size and any alternative models with the wearer. If no suitable tight-fitting respirator achieves an adequate seal, your local assessment can consider a powered hood. This gives managers a clear next step before the employee is assigned to an FFP3-dependent role.

  • Train employees to use their RPE correctly

    Our wearer training covers fitting, pre-use fit checks, compatibility with spectacles or visors, and the limits of the respirator. For reusable equipment and powered hoods, we can also cover inspection, decontamination, storage and maintenance processes, helping employees use the equipment correctly when it is needed.

  • Supply any fit testing equipment and train employees how to use it

    As independent specialists with over 30 years' experience, we stock and support all types of fit testing equipment, qualitative and quantitative, so we can supply any consumables or spare parts you may need to support your own internal fit testing programme. We supply, service and test AccuFIT quantitative fit testing equipment and can supply many spare parts which are cross-compatible with Portacount.

Our expert trainers and assessors can deliver on-site training and competency assessments of your fit testing staff so you can be sure they are able to correctly operate the testing equipment, are following the correct protocols and procedures and therefore have confidence in the fit testing results and data they collect.

What this means for your Trust:

Keeps more staff available for FFP3-dependent work

Up-to-date fit records and suitable alternatives reduce the risk of discovering that an employee cannot use the available respirator when they are needed in theatre, intensive care, emergency care or another higher-risk setting.

Builds greater resilience into your FFP3 supply

Fit test data shows which masks your workforce can wear and where departments depend heavily on one model. Procurement can use that evidence to plan stock, manage substitutions and retain workable alternatives when availability changes.

Maintains Trust-wide assurance with less administration

Consistent test records give your central teams a clearer view of who has passed, which respirator they were tested on and where action remains outstanding. Local testing capacity can then handle routine workforce changes while external support is reserved for any backlogs, campaigns and specialist demand.

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Who we work with 

Our face fit testing and RPE training services can be configured for various healthcare applications, including:

Acute, community, mental health and ambulance NHS Trusts
Independent private hospitals, clinics and healthcare groups 
GP primary care and dental providers
Infection prevention and control, occupational health and RPE leads 
NHS emergency preparedness, resilience and response teams 

Why choose us? 

Our Fire Safe International team have worked with NHS and private sector hospitals and provided face fit testing since 1996, with continuing involvement in the Fit2Fit scheme at the technical oversight and assessment levels. This experience gives your Trust a clearer route through the problems that commonly disrupt FFP3 programmes, such as repeated fit failures, uneven local testing capacity and inconsistent records.

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How often should healthcare workers be re-tested?

Current HSE guidance does not set one universal retesting interval for every wearer. Employers should establish a suitable frequency through their RPE programme, taking account of risk, local policy and the likelihood of changes affecting fit. Fire Safe International may recommend periodic retesting based on the organisation’s circumstances and testing arrangements. An earlier test may be needed if the respirator make, model or size changes, or after facial changes such as significant weight loss or gain, dental work, surgery or scarring that could alter the seal.

Can testing be delivered across multiple hospital sites?

A single testing programme can easily be tailored to cover several hospitals, community sites and satellite clinics. Appointments can be phased by department, shift or respirator model, with qualitative and quantitative testing deployed where each is appropriate.

Can you support NHS Trusts nationwide?

Yes. Nationwide testing delivery is available for NHS Trusts, from targeted support at one hospital to large-scale Trust roll-outs, while Fit Tester Training helps Trusts build internal capacity for ongoing workforce testing.

What next?

Whether you need to test a small specialist team or coordinate hundreds of staff across several large hospital sites, we can help you decide how the programme should be structured. Please call 01743 761000 to discuss your requirements, or request a programme review with one of our respiratory protection specialists.