Respirator Labor
Issues
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| Overview |
| Historically, law
enforcement in Illinois has traditionally NOT had
to deal with the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL)
or Federal OSHA with regard to respirator
regulations. However, in today's world things
have changed. ILEAS has been at the forefront of
the labor issue since distributing nearly 24,000
thousand AVON respirators in 2003 and more
recently with the stockpiling of 138,000 N95
masks for biological emergencies. There have been
a multitude of opinions, rumors and
misinterpretations regarding labor rules for law
enforcement - ILEAS has attempted to cut through
the misinformation to provide uniform guidance to
Illinois law enforcement. ILEAS has worked with
IDOL, the Central District U.S. Attorney, vendors,
and Federal OSHA to develop a consistent set of
guidelines to assist every chief law enforcement
manager in making policy, planning, and budgeting
decisions with regard employee respirator use. |
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| Labor
Regulations Guideline Matrix |
| This page will document
all the official activity between ILEAS and the
various regulatory agencies regarding respirator
labor issues for law enforcement. As a result of
that effort, ILEAS has developed a matrix of Illinois Law Enforcement
Respirator Regulations. We hope that this tool
will be a valuable set of guidelines to support
your policy and budgetary decision-making. All
you have to do is to read down the first column
and choose a policy decision with regard to AVON
or N95 mask use. Once you find the situation that
best fits your issues, then move along that line
to the right to see the requirements with regard
to Standard Medical Screening, Annual Training,
Annual Fit Testing, Policy, Records, Selection of
Respirator and Physical Exam. Each cell in the
matrix identifies the OSHA Respiratory Protection
Standard 29 CFR 1910.134, annexes, appendices and
other references. For
an interactive version of the matrix click here.
For a printable PDF version,
click
here.
For agencies that want to
be in full compliance, ILEAS has developed two
tools to assist. The first is the 3M online
medical screening service. The second is a series
of twenty 1.5 to 2 hour regional "train-the-trainer"
sessions to teach fit testing procedures for the
N95 masks. (see below)
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| Medical
Screening |
| The bottom line is that
this new era of terrorism and potential pandemic
disease, law enforcement is being forced to
comply with long-established labor respiratory
standards. Managers basically have one choice -
full compliance for respirators involving medical
screening; or implementing respirators as a
"voluntary" or "escape" basis.
If you choose the latter, you limit your ability
to utilize respirators. For example, you could
not require officers to wear AVON masks when
deploying tear gas for civil disturbances or
during high risk drug warrant service, etc.
Regardless of which path you take, if you issue,
or allow to be used, respirators, you still have
to have a respirator program, respirator manager,
a policy, and fit tests. The most significant
difference between the two paths is the
requirement to have all employees wearing
respirators to submit to medical screening. This
requirement does NOT mean they have to be
examined by a health care professional - it means
they have to complete the standard medical
screening form which is then reviewed by a
licensed health care professional. Only if they
fail the medical screening form, THEN they have
to be physically examined. For those who want the medical
screening, ILEAS has negotiated a method of
conducting them at a resonable rate. ILEAS has
arranged with 3M to provide their online
medical screening service for $25 per employee.
ILEAS has confirmation from IDOL that the 3M
system does in fact meet the 1910.134 medical
screening standard. Hundreds of agencies
representing thousands of officers from around
the country have succesfully used this system. As
an ILEAS member, you have access to this system
at this price (cost
to be borne by your agency, not ILEAS) and can use it for any employee. It
is not limited to law enforcement officers or
police employees - if you want to expand it to
other departments for your municipality or county,
you can.
Features of the online
system are:
- Method
- interactive online questionnaire. Each
questionnaire can cover up to 5 sets of
respirator profiles. ILEAS has already
added the AVON and N95 respirator
profiles into the system for everyone.
Three additional equipment or
environmental profiles can be added by
each agency at no expense.
- Time
- 10-20 minutes per employee to sign on
and complete the questionnaire. Overtime
to send an employee to a clinic would
virtually be eliminated.
- Clearance
Rate - Based on 3M's
experience, on average 88% will be
immediately cleared by software logic. An
additional 9% will be cleared with a
physician review. 3% will be recommended
for an actual physical exam.
- Cost
Savings - The average
contract cost for a local medical
professional to screen employees is
around $60 nationally. for example, if
you have 100 employees which would
normally be $6,000.00. Using the 3M
online system, 97 people will be cleared
at $25/per person ($2,425) and 3 people
will require additional follow up ($255)
for a total cost of $2,680. Additionally,
the savings in staff time is immense - 97%
of your staff will spend 10-20 minutes at
a computer and not off site at a clinic.
All records are available to you 24/7 on
a secured website. Clearance letters are
sent by email or fax, but can also be
printed out online.
- Operational
Benefits - The Chief or
Sheriff can oversee who has and who has
not submitted to the medical screening by
simply signing online. You get an email
reminder for each employee after a year
has passed reminding you that they are
due for a retest.
An added benefit of this
program is that if enough agencies use the online
system in Illinois, ILEAS may receive a rebate
from 3M. Any rebate will be applied towards the
purchase of more AVON masks and canisters. The
rebate pricing structure is:
- 2500 to 4999
= $2 each rebated back to ILEAS from 3M.
That would buy between 20 and 40 more
AVON masks for distribution.
- 5000+ = $4
each rebated back to ILEAS from 3M. That
would buy at least 80 more AVON masks for
distribution.
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| Regional Fit
Test Training |
| As a part of the
purchase of the N95 masks, ILEAS has arranged for
3M to conduct 20 regional "train-the-trainer"
fit test sessions throughout the State. ILEAS
will work through the MTU's to conduct the
training starting later this spring. Attendees
will be able to conduct qualitative fit testing
for other staff. If your agency would like to
have a session scheduled near you, please contact
Michele Watson in our office. Each
training session will last 1.5 to 2 hours
depending on the number of students. |
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| AVON Respirators |
| ILEAS chose the AVON mask
because research at the time concluded that for
law enforcement use it was the best mask
available. It was NOT NIOSH CBRNE compliant, but
was NIOSH approved for chemical environments.
Note that at the time, there were NO NIOSH
approved CBRNE masks. The ILEAS Board made the
call that it was more important to get good masks
on the street than it was to wait for NIOSH. Note
also that NIOSH has since approved the new
version of the AVON mask as CBRNE compliant. See
the NIOSH documents below. |
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| N95 Respirators |
| The N95 mask is what is
recommended by Public Health for law enforcement
use during a biological emergency such as
pandemic flu. Ill. Dept. of Labor and OSHA
consider the N95 mask a "respirator"
and the same rules that govern the AVON
respirator, also govern the N95. ILEAS is working
with the Department of Labor to "clarify"
the rules to allow for an exception to the
medical screening rule during an emergency
incident. More will follow on this as it develops.
The Illinois
Department of Public Health has issued new
documents relating to the use of respirators
during a biolgical incident or emergency. These
documents are for official use only. Please sign
on with your password to the secured side of the
ILEAS page and direct your attention to the
IMPORTANT MESSAGES section for more on pandemic
flu planning. Here are the PPE recommendations
from IPDH to local law enforcement:
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| Letters from
Illinois Department of Labor |
- July 22, 2003 - Original letter outlining
the Illinois Dept. of Labor's (IDOL)
expectations regarding AVON masks.
- August 8, 2003 - Follow up letter from
IDOL citing sources for regulations
- July 14, 2004 - Letter from IDOL "clarifying"
the voluntary/escape provisions regarding
- January 22, 2007 - Letter to ILEAS regarding
N95 expectations and supporting the
"Regulations Matrix" as
described above.
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| OSHA Links |
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| NIOSH Documents |
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| Model Policy |
| ILEAS has drafted a model
respirator policy that your agency may use. [click here] |
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| If you have ANY questions
about labor issues regarding respirators, please
do not hesitate to contact the ILEAS office at
217-328-3800. We will help in any way we can. |
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