Personal Hygiene, Decontamination, and Medical Surveillance
Hygiene Practices
Personal hygiene protects both the worker and family members. Workers must not eat, drink, smoke, or chew in the work area, and must wash hands and face before eating or leaving. Contaminated clothing must not be taken home. Showering at the end of the shift is required. These practices prevent take-home exposure to family members.
Medical Surveillance
OSHA requires medical surveillance for workers exposed above the permissible exposure limit (PEL) or engaged in certain Class I work. Surveillance includes a medical history, physical exam, and pulmonary function tests, and may include chest X-rays. Candidates should know that medical surveillance is not a substitute for exposure control, and that results are confidential.
Traps to Watch
Frequent traps: (1) assuming medical surveillance prevents disease (it monitors, it does not prevent); (2) forgetting the prohibition on eating/smoking in the work area; (3) assuming take-home exposure is not a concern; (4) confusing medical surveillance with fit testing; (5) forgetting that showering is required. Also watch for questions about recordkeeping of medical records and their retention periods.
Rule of Thumb
Remember "clean body, clean clothes, clean home": shower, change, and never bring contaminated clothing home.
Worked Example
A worker asks whether he can skip the shower because he is in a hurry. The correct answer is no - showering is required, and skipping it risks contaminating his car and home.