Filtering facepiece respirators are subject to various regulatory standards around the world and provide a much higher level of protection with face form fitting and greater pressure drop. To claim compliance with the particular standard as listed below, these respirators must meet or exceed required physical properties and performance characteristics, which can vary according to the regulatory bodies of different countries.
- N95 (United States NIOSH-42CFR84)
- KN95 (China GB2626-2006)
- FFP2 (Europe EN 149-2001)
They are not exactly the same, but they are expected to function very similarly to one another. KN95 face mask is N95 equivalent but NOT NIOSH approved. Our KN95 is non-sterile for general use and not for surgical use. For frontline workers, please follow the guidelines from Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and choose the correct PPE carefully to protect yourself.
A reference by 3M in a technical bulletin released in January 2020 demonstrates that the several country-specific standards used to grade the FFR tend to converge into functional equivalence. N95 (US), KN95 (China) and FFP2 (EU) standards produce mask that are similar enough to be interchangeable for the purposes of their use in a pandemic. All of them are good for filtering non-oil-based particles such as those resulting from wildfires, PM 2.5 air pollution, volcanic eruptions, or bioaerosols (e.g. viruses).
