Employee Exposure and Medical Records Act – OSHA Law Requiring Employers to Track Employees’ Exposures to Toxins in the Workplace

For this and other reasons, on May 23, 1980, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) promulgated the Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records Standard, or the EEMR. The stated purpose of the act is to provide employees with access to relevant toxic exposure data and medical records. This access is intended to help treating doctors know what their patients were working with, and also to assist employers in making decisions to prevent, or at least limit, occupational diseases arising from working with or around toxic chemicals.

The expectations for employers include air monitoring in areas where employees work with or around certain chemicals. Examples of “employee exposure records” include industrial hygiene samples of chemicals, dust, and noise levels; material safety data sheets; and chemical records or inventories showing where and when these chemicals were used. Employers should then be able to use the knowledge gained from this testing to determine which employees should be provided with which type of personal protective equipment (PPE). Employers are also required to compile medical information about employees who have become sick. That information along with the testing data should allow employers to tighten safety standards, thereby reducing the incidence of employees developing cancers and other occupational diseases.

Chemicals such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and methyl chloride (MC) are understood by OSHA to be so toxic that employers are required to collect, maintain, and keep records on how their employees would have been exposed to TCE or MC for 30 years. In some cases, OSHA requires the toxic exposure records to be kept for 30 years after the employee retires or leaves the company. OSHA understood the importance of providing access to toxic exposure records to those with occupational diseases.  And in fact, OSHA requires that employers turn over the necessary records within 15 days of an employee making a written request. Employers who willfully violate the act can be fined $10,000, and even be imprisoned for 6 months. Destruction of relevant records is generally considered a “willful” violation of the EEMR.

The responsibility for keeping and maintaining EEMR does not end when companies are sold to or merged with other companies, or when plants close. If a company is sold or merges with another company, the records, and responsibility for keeping them are to be moved to the new entity. If a company goes out of business, the records are moved to OSHA. Companies are not permitted to escape liability by telling sick employees that they do not have records of what they worked with and when.

In proving up your leukemia or cancer claim, the attorneys at Hughes Law Offices will utilize laws like the EEMR to determine which toxic exposures you had, when they occurred and where they occurred.  OSHA’s required tracking of these toxic exposures is one way of helping American workers. Call 1-800-BENZENE today if you suspect that your cancer or leukemia was caused by toxic workplace exposures.