OSHA is watching – for 30 years

A lot can change for a company over 30 years – new leadership, new locations, new products, new services. But one thing must remain constant, according to an often-overlooked OSHA standard: the preservation of certain kinds of records.

Curtis Chambers provides an excellent reminder about that standard in the current edition of the OSHA Training blog.

The standard, OSHA 1910.1020, imposes two requirements on employers:

A) Maintain certain exposure records (including old MSDSs) and/or written programs for 30 years, and certain medical records for the duration of an affected worker’s employment plus 30 years; and,

B) Notify affected employees when they first start work and at least annually thereafter of the existence of these records and their availability to the worker or their designated representative (e.g.: authorized union representative; an attorney or other person to whom the employee has given specific written consent to exercise a right of access).

Included, among others, are records of air surveys, noise surveys, employee medical examinations prior to wearing a respirator, biological or medical monitoring due to work with a hazardous chemical or substance, and development by an employer of an exposure control plan under OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard.

Curtis’s blog post does a nice of recapping some of the nuances of this standard along with some tips for compliance. It’s a good reminder that keeping in compliance with OSHA requires continual vigilance.

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