Emergency Treatment Program - Medical Personnel

An emergency treatment program requires specific support from medical personnel. This includes the following:

• An available physician who can be paged 24 hours a day
• An on-call team of medical specialists for emergency consultations

It also requires specific support from local hospitals. Prior to work on the site, employers should take care of the following tasks:

• Plan appropriately for emergency treatment at a nearby medical facility (including transportation to the facility, treatment at the facility, and any necessary contamination control procedures).
• Inform both the local emergency transportation services and the local hospital personnel about potential on-site medical problems, types of hazards and their consequences, and potential for exposure.

Depending on the site's location and potential hazards, it may be important to identify additional medical facilities capable of sophisticated responses to chemical or other exposures.

When dealing with specific illnesses or injuries, employers must provide the hospital staff with precise details of the incident. They must also provide information regarding the worker's past medical history.

This may seem to be an obvious requirement, but it is important to note how vital this step is in treatment of injury or illness. For sites dealing with hazardous materials, employees may need very specific treatments related to their chemical or hazardous materials exposure.

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