If you are an employee who has a possible exposure to or uses toxic substances or harmful physical agents in your workplace, you have certain rights under OSHA’s standard on "Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records."

While hazard communication requires that employees be informed of the hazards posed by chemicals to which they may be exposed and the precautions to take when working with those chemicals, "Access to Exposure and Medical Records" allows employees to examine the results of monitoring that measured their level of exposure to those chemicals, and any medical records that might provide information about whether or not their health status was affected by their exposure.

"Exposure" or "exposed" means that an employee is subjected to a toxic substance or harmful physical agent in the course of employment through any route of entry (inhalation, ingestion, skin contact or absorption, etc.), and includes past exposure and potential (e.g., accidental or possible) exposure.

The standard covers records documenting the amount of employee exposure to “toxic substances and harmful physical agents.” Toxic substances and harmful physical agents may include the following:

1. Metals and dusts, such as lead, cadmium and silica.
2. Biological agents, such as bacteria, viruses and fungi.
3. Physical stress, such as noise, heat, cold, vibration, repetitive motion and ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.