If respirators are used to control airborne exposures in your workplace, OSHA's Respiratory Protection standard requires a written program administered by a qualified person. It generally has to cover:
Exposure evaluation and respirator selection — matching the right respirator to the actual hazard.
Medical evaluation — confirming workers are fit to wear a respirator before they do.
Fit testing — for tight-fitting respirators, done and documented.
Training, maintenance, and use procedures — how respirators are used, cleaned, stored, and inspected.
The voluntary-use obligation most people miss
Here's the part that catches employers off guard: even when respirator use is voluntary — a worker choosing to wear a filtering facepiece for comfort or dust when it isn't strictly required — OSHA still imposes obligations. At minimum you owe those employees the information in Appendix D of the standard, and depending on the respirator type, more. A workplace can end up with a respiratory-protection obligation it didn't realize it had simply because employees wear dust masks. Recognizing and documenting voluntary use correctly is a detail a lot of programs — and a lot of competitors' templates — leave out entirely.