Occupational Safety

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at standards for emergency service workers in the United States. It focuses on two organizations and their work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) which regulates standards for emergency service workers in the United States and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Some of the safety issues of concern to firefighters, paramedics and health workers include respirator use, needlestick safety, safety codes for buildings containing hazardous materials, training methods and the monitoring of new technologies.

From the Paper:

"To make the OSHA standards on respirators even more effective, the agency has also suggested a number of accompanying procedures, including a written plan with worksite-specific procedures to tailor program to each worksite; hazard evaluation to characterize respiratory hazards and conditions of work to assist in selecting appropriate respirators; medical evaluation to determine ability of workers to wear respirators; fit testing of tight-fitting respirators required to reduce faceseal leakage and ensure that the respirators provide adequate protection; training required to ensure that employees use respirators safely and periodic program evaluation required to ensure that respirator use continues to be effective (www.osha.gov). It should be clear from these OSHA regulations that while a great deal of the risks must be dealt with while actually fighting fires, a good deal of this risk can be reduced through thoughtful and thorough training procedures."

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