HazMat Testing
Medical surveillance for hazardous materials that keeps your worforce safe
Exposures to noise, chemicals, particulates and other hazards are real threats that need to be understood, monitored, and mitigated. Medical Surveillance is used both to satisfy regulatory requirements and to maintain best practices in keeping your workforce safe and healthy.
Agile offers comprehensive screening and surveillance of medical issues used to detect and prevent injury and reduce risk in the workplace. The presence of various occupational hazards necessitates attentive monitoring of potentially adverse health effects on employees. We develop and administer test exposure and prevention strategies for medical surveillance-our comprehensive programs include:
- Regular medical screenings
- Continuous follow-up monitoring for hazardous materials exposure
- Physical capacity assessments
- Management and oversight for complete OSHA compliance
A HazMat surveilance program will:
Decrease work-related injuries and illnesses
Lower workers’ compensation costs
Decrease healthcare costs
Protect against legal liability from worker exposures
Are any of your employees exposed to hazardous materials?
Contact Agile today for a no-obligation, free quote on setting up an HazMat medical surveillance program for your company. Our clinical team will review your requirements, make recomendations and present you with options to ensure your employees stay healthy and safe
More on HazMat Surveillance programs
Overview
Silica Exposure
Asbestos Exposure
Additional Resources
Overview
The Agile approach to HazMat Medical Surveillance
Working in the presence of occupational hazards necessitates attentive monitoring of employees for potential adverse health effects. Agile is committed to helping customers mitigate liability risk, so our HazMat Medical Surveillance programs provide recommended, OSHA-compliant screenings and physical capacity assessments, as well as continuous biological monitoring for exposure to hazardous materials. Our custom programs include:
OSHA Examinations
As per OSHA Standards, Agile will assess each of your enrolled employees as part of an ongoing physical exam process known as medical surveillance, which determines if an employee meets the physical and medical requirements established by OSHA. Surveillance includes chemical exposures, hearing conservation, periodic checks and more. These examinations can be broken down into two categories: Surveillance and Periodic Examinations.
Medical Surveillance
Medical surveillance has a preventative focus and is an on-going observation of employee health for the purpose of prevention of illness or injury. This is carried out with identification of health abnormalities caused by job site exposures and risks. Surveillance aims at creating snapshots (through examinations) of an employee's health on a periodic basis to be used for a comparative basis to previous exams.
Periodic Examinations
Examinations are performed at our clinic and involve medical procedures (e.g. physical examinations, biological screenings, medical history) that are used to assess possible illnesses or abnormalities. Examinations are typically performed on an annual basis as part of an ongoing Medical Surveillance program.
Silica Exposure
Crystalline Silica dust
Working in the presence of Crystalline Silica necessitates attentive monitoring of employees for potential adverse health effects. Our Medical Surveillance programs provide recommended, OSHA-compliant screenings and physical capacity assessments, as well as continuous biological monitoring for exposure.
What is Crystalline Silica?
Crystalline silica is a common mineral found in the earth’s crust and in materials such as sand, stone, concrete, and mortar. When these materials are cut, sawed, ground, drilled, or crushed, very small respirable particles are created. These particles are more than 100 times smaller than ordinary sand and are inhaled deep into the respiratory tract. Overall, about 2.3 million U.S. workers in many different industries are exposed to silica dust at work. The oil and gas industry is especially impacted by silica dust due to recent advancements in well stimulation (hydraulic fracking with industrial grade sand). Respirable silica dust exposure puts workers at risk of silicosis, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and kidney disease.
Silica OSHA Compliance
To better protect workers exposed to respirable crystalline silica, OSHA issued a new crystalline silica standard mandating that employers provide medical surveillance exams to workers exposed at or above the airborne silica permissible exposure level of 50 μg/m averaged over an 8-hour day for 30 days or more per year starting June 23, 2018. Starting June 23, 2020, employees exposed at or above the airborne silica action level of 25 μg/m averaged over an 8-hour day for 30 days or more per year. These exams must be performed at no cost to workers by licensed health care professionals. The standard requires that the examining clinician have a thorough knowledge of silica-related diseases and symptoms. Medical surveillance exams must be made available to exposed workers at least every three years or more frequently if recommended by the healthcare professional.
Asbestos Exposure
Asbestos
Working in the presence of Asbestos necessitates attentive monitoring of employees for potential adverse health effects. Our Medical Surveillance programs provide recommended, OSHA-compliant screenings and physical capacity assessments, as well as continuous biological monitoring for exposure.
What is asbestos?
Asbestos is the name given to a group of naturally occurring minerals that are resistant to heat and corrosion. Asbestos has been used in products, such as insulation for pipes (steam lines for example), floor tiles, building materials, and in vehicle brakes and clutches. Asbestos includes the mineral fibers chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, anthophyllite, actinolite and any of these materials that have been chemically treated or altered. Heavy exposures tend to occur in the construction industry and in ship repair, particularly during the removal of asbestos materials due to renovation, repairs, or demolition. Workers are also likely to be exposed during the manufacture of asbestos products (such as textiles, friction products, insulation, and other building materials) and during automotive brake and clutch repair work.
What are the hazards of asbestos?
Asbestos is well recognized as a health hazard and its use is now highly regulated by both OSHA and EPA. Asbestos fibers associated with these health risks are too small to be seen with the naked eye. Breathing asbestos fibers can cause a buildup of scar-like tissue in the lungs called asbestosis and result in loss of lung function that often progresses to disability and death. Asbestos also causes cancer of the lung and other diseases such as mesothelioma of the pleura which is a fatal malignant tumor of the membrane lining the cavity of the lung or stomach. Epidemiologic evidence has increasingly shown that all asbestos fiber types, including the most commonly used form of asbestos, chrysotile, causes mesothelioma in humans.
Asbestos OSHA Compliance
Worker exposure to asbestos hazards are addressed in specific OSHA standards for the construction industry, general industry and shipyard employment sectors. These standards reduce the risk to workers by requiring that employers provide personal exposure monitoring to assess the risk and hazard awareness training for operations where there is any potential exposure to asbestos. Airborne levels of asbestos are never to exceed legal worker exposure limits. There is no "safe" level of asbestos exposure for any type of asbestos fiber.
Additional Resources
Additional information on Hazardous Materials
Chemical hazards and toxic substances pose a wide range of health hazards (such as irritation, sensitization, and carcinogenicity) and physical hazards (such as flammability, corrosion, and explosibility). This tab provides basic information about chemical hazards and toxic substances in the workplace. While not all hazards associated with every chemical and toxic substance are addressed here, we do provide relevant links to other pages with additional information about hazards and methods to control exposure in the workplace.
10 Most Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace
- Arsenic
- Lead
- Benzene
- Chromium
- Toluene
- Cadmium
- Zinc
- Mercury
- Pesticides
- E Waste
California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs).
Cal/OSHA has established an extensive list of PELs (Cal/OSHA AC-1 Table ) that are enforced in workplaces under its jurisdiction. Cal/OSHA PELs are promulgated under statutory requirements for risk and feasibility that are no less protective than the OSH Act. Though not enforceable in establishments outside of Cal/OSHA’s jurisdiction, these PELs can provide information on acceptable levels of chemicals in the workplace. Of all the states that have OSHA-approved State Plans, California has the most extensive list of PELs.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Recommended Exposure Limits (RELs).
NIOSH RELs are Federal agency recommendations established according to the legislative mandate for NIOSH to recommend standards to OSHA. RELs are recommended exposure limits for hazardous substances in the workplace to protect worker health. In developing RELs and other recommendations to protect worker health, NIOSH evaluates all available medical, biological, engineering, chemical, and trade information relevant to the hazard. NIOSH transmits its recommendations to OSHA for use in developing legally enforceable standards. NIOSH also publishes its recommendations in publicly available sources such as the NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards, Criteria Documents, Current Intelligence Bulletins, Alerts, Special Hazard Reviews, Occupational Hazard Assessments, and Technical Guidelines.