Medical surveillance for hazardous-materials response teams

January 31, 1994

Mr. Edward E. Hartin
Vice President of Operations
HAZMAT Training Information Services, Inc.
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Mr. Hartin:

This is in response to your letter of September 17th concerning the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response regulation (HAZWOPER), 29 CFR 1910.120. Please accept my apology for the delay in this reply.

You seek guidance in determining whether a particular company's hazardous materials technicians, who respond and work together within the context of the company's designated Incident Command System are considered by OSHA to be members of a HAZMAT team, thereby subject to the medical surveillance requirements defined under 29 CFR 1910.120(q).

If the hazardous materials technicians described in your letter will be expected, as part of their regular job duties, to respond offensively to uncontrolled releases of hazardous substance, they would be considered "members of an organized and designated HAZMAT team" requiring participation in a medical surveillance program. Paragraph (a)(3) of the HAZWOPER standard defines a HAZMAT team as "an organized group of employees, designated by the employer, who are expected to perform work to handle and control actual or potential leaks or spills of hazardous substances requiring possible close approach to the substance... ." The determination of whether a group of employees constitutes a HAZMAT team should be based on job duties (i.e., whether or not they would be required to assist in emergency response) and the potential for exposures during a release incident; the response team would not need to be called a "HAZMAT team" per se. Based on the information you have provided, it appears that the hazardous materials technicians described in your letter must be designated by the employer as members of a HAZMAT team since they may be required to respond "and work together" to control emergency releases throughout the facility as part of a company-wide emergency response team.

We hope this information is helpful. If you have any further questions please contact [the Office of Health Enforcement at (202) 693-2190].

Sincerely,
Roger Clark, Director
Directorate of Compliance Programs

[Requester letter reproduced on OSHA page; omitted here.]

[Corrected 12/6/2024]