To all:
    I strongly agree with the role of the Health Care Professional. I t is not simply a matter of completing in a prefunctory manner a Questionaire. The Questionaire MUST be reviewed by a qualified Health Care Professional. As a matter of routine in two organizations I was associated with we required each individual to see a Health Care Professional and have a respiratory function screen annually. This was great for older worker who were smokers and inevitably showed some pulmonary function defeciency. It provided the opportunity to remind them of the value of enrolling in our Smoking Cessation Program. The contact with a Professional  was also valuable in discussing the issue of facial hair which can be a real problem in getting a proper fit on respirators. Sometimes employees would be more willing to follow the advice of a Physician or Nurse Practioner and shave when they would not be as inclined to take the advice of the Certified Industrial Hygienist. 
     There is a real need to have an integrated proactive Health Protection program not a patch work system oriented to just  following the rules.

Roger O. McClellan, DVM, MMS, DSc(honorary), Dipl-ABVT, Dipl-ABT, Fellow-ATS
Advisor, Toxicology and Human Health Risk Analysis 
13701 Quaking Aspen Place NE 
Albuquerque, NM 87111 
Tel: 505-296-7083 
Fax: 505-296-9573 
E-mail: roger.o.mcclellan**At_Symbol_Here**att.net 


-------------- Original message from Diane Amell : -------------- 

> It all depends on what the "physician or other licensed health care 
> professional" who does your medical evaluations requires. Ours requires 
> our staff to complete the medical evaluation questionnaire annually. 
> Based on the results of the questionnaire, he may do follow-up exams. 
> Yours may decide that it isn't necessary to do a medical evaluation 
> every year, or may decide that physical exams be done on a regular basis 
> (which could be a period of months or years). 
> 
> Fit testing is still to be conducted at least annually. 
> 
> - Diane Amell, MNOSHA 
> 
> Staff opinion: Unless otherwise noted, the response provided above is a 
> staff opinion provided by a member of the Minnesota Occupational Safety 
> and Health Compliance Division. A staff opinion is the opinion of one 
> staff member about the correct answer to a specific question generated 
> by a stakeholder. The opinion is not binding. 
> 
> This e-mail and any attachments are confidential and may be privileged. 
> If you are not the intended recipient, or the person responsible for 
> delivering it to the intended recipient, please notify the sender 
> immediately by replying to this message and destroy all copies of this 
> message and the attachments. 
> 
> >>> "Burrill, Jason" 7/24/2007 9:41 AM >>> 
> 
> Can I assume that a Medical Evaluation questionnaire is to be filled 
> out 
> annually by all employees enrolled in the respirator program? After 
> reading the regulations it states that a Medical Evaluation 
> questionnaire is to be completed prior to fit testing and since fit 
> testing is done every 12 months, at a minimum, then I interpret it to 
> mean that the evaluations be completed yearly. 
> 
> Thanks in advance for all the feedback. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jason Burrill 
> 
> Manager, Histology 
> 
> Charles River Laboratories 
> 
> 251 Ballardvale Street 
> 
> Wilmington, MA 01887 
> 
> Ph: 978-658-6000 ext 1652 
> 
> Fax: 978-988-8793 
> 
> jason.burrill**At_Symbol_Here**crl.com 

Previous post   |  Top of Page   |   Next post