If you’re an employer and you don’t have OSHA medical evaluations on file for every employee, your first step is to have all staff complete this evaluation ASAP. An OSHA medical evaluation is required for all employees wearing a respirator, even if they wear it voluntarily! The respirator medical evaluation ensures they are medically able to wear a respirator and complete their respirator fit test. This is an OSHA requirement under Respiratory Protection Standard 1910.134.
Once all of your employees have completed their initial medical evaluation and you have everything on file, then you can start looking at the next time you should evaluate your employees, which we will help you figure out in this blog!
HOW OFTEN SHOULD RECERTIFICATIONS BE PERFORMED?
OSHA does not specify annual medical evaluation requirements. At minimum, their recommendation is to provide additional evaluations if an employee shows signs or symptoms that are related to their ability to wear a respirator. Also, after your employee completes their first evaluation, the PLHCP performing the evaluation may recommend annual tests for employees that require follow-up questions during their evaluation.
Some good rules to go by are:
Employees less than 35 years of age – perform evaluations every 4-5 years
Employees between 35-45 years of age – perform evaluations every 2 years
Employees 45 years of age or older – perform evaluations every year
BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY
Ultimately, medical evaluations are so easy! It’s a great safety measure to have your employees complete them before every annual fit test. Mobile Health has a seamless and affordable process ─ we send your employees their evaluation before an appointment at one of our 6,500+ clinics, or we send it to all employees before your on-site fit testing event! Both medical evaluation and fit testing results will be sent to one portal so that you don’t have to worry about tedious recordkeeping.
WE MAKE IT EASY
Talk to a medical evaluation expert at Mobile Health today to learn about our customizable medical evaluation and fit testing options! Our medical evaluation can be a standalone service or paired with our on-site fit testing services, 6,500+ clinics locations, or with the DIY Mobile Health Fit Kit™.
