There used to be more welders here. Full boiler suit, welding hat, welding gauntlets and positive pressure welding mask system. In summer they sweat badly. They have to take breaks in hot days, but still hit their count!!!
Used to work with some nasty acids as part of my course at university. The work placement wouldn't allow it on site despite being an R&D establishment. My project needed it so the university allowed me to use it there. Needless to say the woman who ran those labs put a rocket up the jacksies of the undergrads who were running around behind my fume cupboard while I was using it like the school kids they really still were.
My memory has failed me what it was but one drop would keep on stripping calcium out of your bones once it gets that far all without burning the skin. An Aussie post-grad got a couple of drops on his leg and the took him to the swimming pool as back then there wasn't a chemical shower. They tried to amputate his leg but was too late. That was the scare story I got told. The COSSH assessment was pretty thorough too. I also had my own antidote and knew the fastest way to the chemical shower.
When you work with dangerous chemicals or hazardous materials you soon learn all you need to know about protecting yourself. At work there's quite a few with face fit masks. We have a consultant we use to select what mask is needed and to face fit/train the operators. That's on top of local extraction. Everyone on shopfloor has ear p, safety glasses. Safety boots and gloves appropriate to their job. Also, 3m protective suits if want or need it. Despite that it's still a battle with some people. One guy wouldn't wear ear p. After leaving our place he put a claim in for hearing damage. It went through to all his previous employers some were big and had the lawyers to fight. He got nothing because we had made him sign something saying he had received the PPE needed for his work area.
Among non-PPE wearing general public I suspect mask wearing take up won't be popular and they'll probably not get the potential benefit due to fit and the fiddle factor contamination. I still think it's worth people wearing masks. Small benefits are still benefits.
A marked improvement, I must say.