Employee Medical
and Exposure Records
Chapter 296-802, WAC
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Effective
Date: 08/01/04 |
Contents Helpful
Tools Index Download
| WAC
296-802-400
Provide Employees Access to Records
and Analyses
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 For
printing |
Your Responsibility:
To provide employees access to records and
analyses
IMPORTANT:
- Employees or their designated representatives
can use the collective bargaining process to gain access to
records beyond what is required by this chapter.
- The requirements of this section apply
to both current and former employees.
You must
Provide access to employee medical records,
exposure records, and analyses
WAC
296-802-40005
Provide access to employee medical records,
exposure records, and analyses
You must
- Provide employees and their designated representatives
access to requested records and analyses as follows:
- – In a reasonable time, place, and
manner
- – Within 15 working days.
- If there’s a delay, inform
the requesting party of the reason and the earliest
date the record will be made available.
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Exemption:
You don’t have to provide analyses
that are currently being worked on or haven’t been
reported to you. |
You must
- Provide a copy of the record, when requested,
to the employee or designated representative without cost. This
may be done by one of the following methods:
– Make a copy for the requestor
– Make the record and a copier
available
– Loan the record to the employee
or designated representative for a reasonable time, so a
copy can be made.
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Note:
- Access to employee medical records will
be provided to designated representatives only when the
employee provides specific written authorization. See
WAC 296-802-40010.
- To locate or identify the records being
requested, you may request, from employees or designated
representatives, only known and necessary information.
For example, you may request dates and location of where
the employee worked during the time period in question.
- You aren’t required to perform
an analysis of medical or exposure records at the request
of an employee or designated representative
- When there is an original x-ray you
may restrict access to an on-site examination or make
other arrangements for a temporary loan.
- When a record has been provided without
cost to an employee or designated representative, and
they request additional copies, you may charge a reasonable,
nondiscriminatory administrative cost. For example, you
may charge search and copying expenses but not overhead
expenses.
– A reasonable fee for copying,
as defined in chapter
70.02 RCW, shouldn’t exceed 65 cents per
page for the first 30 pages and 15 cents per page
for all additional pages. In addition, a clerical
fee for searching and handling may be charged not
to exceed 15 dollars.
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WAC
296-802-40010
Provide employee medical records
You must
- Make sure employees have access, upon request,
to their own medical records.
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Note:
- A physician, nurse, or other responsible
health care professional who maintains employee medical
records may delete from requested medical records the
identity or individuals who provided confidential information
regarding an employee’s health status.
- If a physician represents you and believes
that providing an employee access to their specific diagnosis
of a terminal illness or psychiatric condition could harm
the employee, they may request that the record be released
only to a designated representative having specific written
authorization.
- The physician representing you may
recommend that the employee or designated representative
do one of the following:
– Consult with the physician
to review and discuss requested records
– Accept a summary of
facts and opinions instead of requested records
– Accept the release
of requested records only to another physician or
designated representative.
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You must
- Make sure that individual employees aren’t
identified in any portion of analyses that report the contents
of employee medical records.
– Identifying information includes
both direct identifiers such as name, address, Social Security
number, and payroll number, and other information that could
reasonably be used in the circumstances to identify individual
employees such as exact age, height, or weight.
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Note:
If it isn’t feasible to remove personal
identifying information from a document, you don’t
have to provide the portions where personal identifiers
can’t be moved.
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You must
- Provide designated representatives access
to employee medical records when the employee provides specific
written authorization.
– If the written authorization
doesn’t contain an expiration date, it expires 90
days after it’s signed.
– Release only medical information
that exists on the date of the written employee consent,
unless the consent specifically states that future information
may be released.
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Note:
An employee may revoke the specific written
authorization in writing at any time.
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Helpful Tool:
Release of medical information
You can find a sample written authorization for release
of medical information in the Resources section of this
chapter. |
WAC
296-802-40015
Provide employee exposure records
You must
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Note:
Trade secret information may be withheld
from exposure records. See chapter 296-816 WAC, Protecting
Trade Secrets, for more information.
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