HAZMAT Teams will fall under 1910.120(q), but there are sections of section(q) that direct us to other sections of 1910.120. One of these sections is the medical monitoring requirements for the team members. In this article, I will try and layout exactly what OSHA requires for each team member. NOTE: Text from the 1910.120 and other OSHA standards discussed in this article will be italicized.
Members of an organized and designated HAZMAT team and hazardous materials specialist shall receive a baseline physical examination and be provided with medical surveillance as required in paragraph (f) of this section.
I think that it is important to point out that the basic “respirator physical” is NOT going to meet the medical evaluation requirements for HAZWOPER. Using annual respirator physicals as the only means to evaluate response team member’s state of health just does NOT go far enough, as will be more evident as we progress through this article.
The standard sort of bounces us around when it comes to medical surveillance, but simply put there are two types of medical surveillance that need to take place: 1) annual and 2) on-scene during an active response. First, let’s discuss the annual and pre-team medical evaluations.