An aerial shot of the NIOSH campus in Bruceton, Allegheny County Pennsylvania. (Photo from the CDC)
Most Americans learned what an N95 mask was during the COVID-19 pandemic. But what many still don’t know is that every one of them was certified by a single, government-run lab in Bruceton, Pennsylvania. It’s called the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory. The name N95 actually comes from their certification standards.
The lab, near Pittsburgh, is operated by the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety and is the only facility in the country that is capable of offering the agency’s stamp of approval. The same lab certifies a host of other protective masks and respirators used by firefighters, doctors, painters, factory workers, coal miners, pharmaceutical manufacturers, welders, chemical plant employees, construction crews and others. Many American employers are statutorily required to provide them to workers…