Dr. Ramirez,  

Although the jobs are not exactly the same, the safety sensitive nature of decon work and the physiological stresses of being in the suits may make it worth your while to look at the ACOEM Guidance for Medical Evaluation of Law Enforcement Officers (http://www.acoem.org/Login.aspx) or the NFPA standard 1582 for firefighters (http://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/document-information-pages?mode=code&code=1582&tab=nextedition).  Unfortunately, the ACOEM document costs 50USD for a subscription.  

As noted, neither of these documents was designed for exactly your population, but many of the principles are the same as a safety sensitive job in adverse conditions and these will help you think of issues you may want to address. 

By way of disclaimer, I am a member of the ACOEM task group developing the LEO guidances.  I am not a member of the 1582 development committee. 

Good luck.

Kris Arnold, MD, MPH, FACEP




On Mon, May 12, 2014 at 6:51 PM, Angelique Ramirez <ANGELIQUE.RAMIREZ@phhs.org> wrote:

We have 120 staff who are members of our hospital decon team … they participate in training, drills, and actual events involving suiting up – events have lasted anywhere from 1-2 hours to 7-8 hours.  Occupational Health has not previously be involved with the team … the disaster preparedness team has asked for our help in updating protocols from initial medical clearance prior to being on the team to the medical monitoring at the time of an event and medical surveillance over time.

 

If anyone has any procedures/protocols that they would be willing to share or practical lessons learned from experience I’d be grateful – thanks.

 

Angelique Ramirez, MD

Medical Director, Occupational Health Services

Parkland Health & Hospital System

5201 Harry Hines Blvd.

Dallas, TX 75235

214-590-4842 - office

angelique.ramirez@phhs.org

 

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