April 16, 200—The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has prepared a Model Health & Safety Plan (HASP) with funds from the EPA. It provides model language that is acceptable to OSHA in meeting the requirements of OSHA’s Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) Standard, 29 CFR 1910.120 or 29 CFR 1926.65, paragraph (b)(4). That paragraph requires a site-specific safety and health plan for clean-up operations conducted under HAZWOPER.
Qualified health and safety professionals can use the accompanying files to create a site-specific health and safety plan for cleanup of facilities recently contaminated with anthrax spores through bio-terrorism. If these files are completed accurately and thoroughly, and the resulting HASP is fully implemented at the anthrax-decontamination project site, the employer is likely to have a site health and safety program that effectively protects employee health and safety. The files are available as compressed (zipped) Word 6.0/95 document files. They can be opened by most current word-processing software.
The HASP chapters include: Organizational Structure; Site Characterization and Job Hazard Analysis; Site Control; Training; Medical Surveillance; PPE; Exposure Monitoring; Heat Stress; Spill Containment; Decontamination; Emergency Response; Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs); and Confined Spaces. OSHA offers assistance in preparing these procedures.
A brief safety data sheet for anthrax is also included. To date, there is no established exposure limit for anthrax spores.
