Training Series Part IV: Medical Services & First Aid

Subpart: D – Occupational Health & Environmental Controls

OSHA Standard: 1926.50

Occurrence: In the absence of accessible medical facility, medical & first aid training is required.

Frequency: Every 2 years – First Aid/CPR. Annually for Bloodborne Pathogens (BBP)

Training Style: Classroom & Hands On. Tool box talk - BBP

Employer Responsibilities:
In the absence of an infirmary, clinic, hospital, or physician, that is reasonably accessible in terms of time and distance to the worksite. OSHA has determined that emergency care must be available within no more than 3-4 minutes from the workplace.  The employer must ensure that adequate first aid is available in the critical minutes between the occurrence of an injury and the availability of physician or hospital care for the injured employee. Therefore, if medical facility is more than 3-4 minutes from a jobsite, at least one person must have a valid certificate in first-aid training from the U.S. Bureau of Mines, the American Red Cross, or equivalent training that can be verified by documentary evidence, shall be available at the worksite to render first aid. First aid supplies shall be easily accessible and the contents of the first aid kit shall be placed in a weatherproof container with individual sealed packages for each type of item and shall be checked by the employer before being sent out on each job and at least weekly on each job to ensure that the expended items are replaced. Note, there are no OSHA construction standards that specifically require an employer to provide an AED at a construction site currently.
The bloodborne pathogens standard at 29 CFR 1910.1030(g)(2) requires employers to provide training to any employees who have occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials, such as employees assigned medical or first aid duties by their employers. The standard at 29 CFR 1910.1030(b) defines "occupational exposure" as "reasonably anticipated skin, eye, mucous membrane, or parenteral contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials that may result from the performance of an employee's duties." If an employee is trained in first aid and identified by the employer as responsible for rendering medical assistance as part of his/her job duties, that employee is covered by the bloodborne pathogens standard.

Employee Responsibilities:
Take seriously First Aid/CPR training as they could be responsible to provide crucial life saving measures in the event of an injury.

Summary:
Basically, at least one person on every work site needs to have First-Aid/CPR training, at is it required to be available within 3-4 minutes. This training needs to be done every 2 years. Bloodborne pathogens training needs to be performed annually. This could be accomplished through a toolbox talk.

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