Hazards, occupational policies

All toxic materials were disposed of in accordance with the policy of UTMDACC to handle and dispose of hazardous waste, which is in accordance with the regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Federal Department of Transportation, Texas Department of Health, and the Texas Water Commission. 

These general objectives should form an extensive consensus. There is likewise a general consensus that environmental, occupational, health and consumer policies over the past thirty years have achieved considerable material success in reducing the use of known hazardous substances, also with regard to their loads in soil, air, water and products and not least of all with regard to their safe handling at the workplace. 

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodentid.de Act Food. Drug, and Cosmetic Act Hazardous Materials Transportation Act National Environmental Policy Act Occupational Safety and Health Act Resource Conservation and Recoveiy Act Safe Drinking Water Act Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act Toxic Substances Control Act... 

NIOSH. 1992. NIOSH Recommendations for Occupational Safety and Health Compendium of Policy Documents and Statements. Table 1. NIOSH Recommended Safety and Health Standards for Hazardous Agents in the Workplace. 

Emissions from individual sources can be closely regulated, both within a facility (occupational standards) and outside it (with New Source Performance Standards at the federal level and/or Air Toxic Hot Spots regulations in California). The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) began in 1970, with the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, to develop recommended exposure limits (RELs) for chemicals in the workplace. In 1974, NIOSH joined with OSHA to update the OSHA program for PELs for a wide variety of substances, incorporating cancer potency data as it became available over subsequent years. Their evaluations were published in criteria documents. Special Hazard Reviews, and summarized in a Compendium of Policy Documents and Statements (NIOSH 1992). Available information is periodically updated in the NIOSH Pocket... 

NIOSH. 1992. Recommendations for occupational safety and health Compendium of policy documents and statements. Cincinnati, OH National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Department of Health and Human Services, 1-205. NIOSH/OSHA. 1981. Occupational health guidelines for chemical hazards. Government Printing Office, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health/Occupational Safety and Health Administration, DHHS. 

Employers are advised and encouraged to institute and maintain in their establishments a program which provides systematic policies, procedures, and practices that are adequate to recognize and protect their employees from occupational safety and health hazards. 

The ALARA policy and philosophy v h regard to hazardous materials, as specified in the ES H Manual (SNL 1998), is to control personnel exposure such that neither the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) nor the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) are exceeded. Exposure to hazardous material in HCF work areas is maintained ALARA through proper facility design, equipment layout, PPE, physical controls (e.g., confinement and ventilation), and administrative controls. 

Per Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation 29 CFR 1910.1450, Occupational Exposures to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories, is a written plan that includes specific work practices, standard operating procedures, equipment, engineering controls, and policies to ensure that employees are protected from hazardous exposure levels to all potentially hazardous chemicals in use in their work areas. The OSHA standard provides for training, employee access to information, medical consultations, examinations, hazard identification procedures, respirator use, and record-keeping practices. 

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