In 1919, the U.S. Bureau of Mines initiated the first respirator certification program in the United States.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by peer-reviewed history (Spelce et al. 2018), CDC/NIOSH historical documents, and an independent LLNL/OSTI technical report citing Held 1978. Sources share a common historical lineage but no contradicting evidence found.
Sources
- 100 Years of Respiratory Protection History | NPPTL | NIOSH | CDC (archive.cdc.gov)
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7261008 (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6591473 (osti.gov)