Compliant on Medical Surveillance? Dolphin Bay can Help

Dolphin Bay and our occupational medicine specialist, Dr Greg Kew (pictured above), have drawn up a programme for biomedical evaluation compliance at our manufacturing facilities.

Much of this programme, which we have dubbed BECOP (biomedical evaluation compliance programme), is translatable to the operations of our customers, who must complete the same exposure tests to satisfy new health and safety legislation. We are now offering our customers access to the information relevant to both their operations and ours.

“We have decided to share the wealth of knowledge we built up during this process because it is important for us that our customers are compliant and set a high bar,” said Bertus.

BECOP will help you to satisfy a host of legal requirements governing your team’s possible exposure to treatment chemicals and mitigating this risk.

It incorporates the requirements of the latest draft health and safety regulations published in April 2024, called the Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents, along with older legislation still in place. Greg was the medical expert on the technical committee that drafted the new regulations.

“Dolphin Bay has decided to share our wealth of knowledge built up during this process. We will also introduce you to our network of experts.”

“The new regulations were written to protect employees but keep the employer in mind in being reasonably practical,” he said. “A lot of energy was put into clarifying what the employer should do and what delegated experts should do.”

The draft regulations give extensive detail, clarifying how compliance should be assessed with the aim of enabling better compliance.

Earlier legislation stated it was necessary to medically examine staff for exposure to hazardous chemicals. The draft legislation requires a protocol indicating how this biomonitoring will take place.

These regulations outline, among other things, the need for risk assessments, air monitoring programmes and, under certain circumstances, medical surveillance. They also require the training of all staff who come into contact with hazardous chemicals, the need to recycle these chemicals as far as possible, and how to dispose of them safely.

“Dolphin Bay has gone the extra mile in offering this information to customers,” said Greg.

BECOP provides structure, clarity, and direction in what would be a minefield for customers to navigate on their own. A peek into the file would show you a risk identification plan, a risk mitigation plan, and biomonitoring and testing protocols, all of which have been modelled on our product, Permacure Oxide Liquor (CCA).

An essential foundation is laid by getting the file in place. The critical measures are the mechanisms and procedures that follow. Dolphin Bay will also introduce you to our network of experts.

“One might be forgiven for thinking that these things are a nuisance or even unnecessary, but the truth is that they are needed,” said Bertus. “Being in our industry, we need to accept our responsibility to be responsible manufacturers and users of chemicals.

“With the current scrutiny of all chemicals perceived as hazardous – which all are – it is important that we set our industry apart for good practice. So before you close your eyes and shake your head, thinking about the burden of implementing yet another requirement, take comfort that once implemented, the system is fairly easy to maintain.

“We look forward to reaching out to you, to see how we can be of help.”

Source: Dolphin Bay