A Note to Our Customers

1. A distributor is closing - not us.

Alliant, one of the independent distributors that has sold ReadiMasks is winding down its business. That is their company, not ours.  ReadiMask (Global Safety First, LLC) is a separate company and remains open and shipping orders as always.  If you have purchased through Alliant in the past, you can now order directly from us at ReadiMask.com.

2. About our NIOSH N95 certification - and what it means for you.

The ReadiMasks in our current inventory were manufactured and tested in the USA under our NIOSH N95 certification, while we were a listed NIOSH-approved manufacturer. They were produced to that standard, under that certification.

We have since voluntarily withdrawn that certification.  Maintaining it is costly between production runs for a small American manufacturer, and we have not produced new masks since.  We intend to re-apply for certification with our next production run.

Because the certification has been voluntarily withdrawn, these masks can no longer be represented as currently NIOSH-approved.  In the words of the Branch Chief of NIOSH's National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL):

"Once an approval is voluntarily rescinded, the products that are labeled as NIOSH approved will no longer be recognized as approved and cannot be used in occupational settings where NIOSH approved respirators are required to be used."

In plain terms: if your workplace requires you to wear a NIOSH-approved respirator - a rule determined by OSHA and verified during workplace fit-testing, you would need a respirator that is currently listed on the NIOSH approved respirator list.  Most of our customers are not in that category.  They wear ReadiMask by choice, for personal protection and comfort, not under an OSHA workplace requirement.

A simple way to know if this effects you

Has an employer told you that you must wear a NIOSH-approved respirator for your job, with fit-testing?  If yes, speak with whoever manages your workplace's respiratory protection program.  If no, like most of our customers, you are free to keep wearing ReadiMask exactly as you always have.

A couple of real-world examples

A dental technician may choose to wear a ReadiMask at work, because dental offices are not required by OSHA to provide NIOSH-approved N95 respirators to employees. (Most use standard surgical masks.)

By contrast, a hospital worker treating a patient with a confirmed or suspected airborne disease such as tuberculosis is, under OSHA rules, required to use a currently NIOSH-approved respirator and be fit-tested. In that setting, the employer could not provide a ReadiMask to meet that requirement while our certification is withdrawn, even if it passed the fit test, because the rule requires the respirator to be currently NIOSH-approved.

The bottom line

ReadiMask is open. We plan to restore our NIOSH certification with our next production run. Thank you for being part of the ReadiMask community.

Questions? Reach us anytime by emailing us at support@readimask.com