Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance

Resumo

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces the availability of the following draft publication for public comment. The document is entitled, "Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance." The draft document and instructions for submitting comments can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docket/review/docket223/. The document proposes a new framework for ensuring responder safety and health by monitoring and conducting surveillance of their health and safety during the entire cycle of emergency response, including the pre-deployment, deployment, and post-deployment phases of a response. The proposed system is referred to as the "Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance (ERHMS)" system, which includes a guidance section describing the principles of ensuring optimal responder safety and health, as well as a tools section to help facilitate the execution of these principles during an actual response. The goals of this proposed system are to ensure that only properly trained and fit responders are deployed to a response, that the health and safety of all responders are app