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NASA
Procedural
Requirements

NPR 1800.1E
Effective Date: March 16, 2023
Expiration Date: March 16, 2028

COMPLIANCE IS MANDATORY FOR NASA EMPLOYEES

Subject: NASA Occupational Health Program Procedures

Responsible Office: Office of the Chief Health & Medical Officer

Chapter 1. General

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 NASA strives, through its OHP, to ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the health and productivity of NASA's workforce and compliance with all applicable laws and regulatory requirements, professional standards, and NASA program requirements pertaining to OH, across all program disciplines (i.e., occupational medicine, industrial hygiene, health physics, physical fitness and health promotion, federal workers' compensation, food safety, and employee assistance), domestically and on international travel and assignment. This document describes the process and procedures for accomplishing this goal.

1.1.2 The document is organized with a chapter for each discipline except for chapter 4 which encompasses the disciplines falling under Environmental Health (EH) - industrial hygiene, health physics, and food safety.

1.1.3 This introductory chapter describes requirements and responsibilities for specific initiatives and functions within the scope of the OHP which are relevant to all the program disciplines to increase clarity and reduce redundancy throughout the document.

1.2 Designated Agency Safety and Health Officer

1.2.1 The CHMO, as the final authority on the applicability of all OH requirements throughout the Agency, is the Designated Agency Safety and Health Officer (DASHO), liaison to the Department of Labor (DOL).

1.2.2 Centers shall inform the CHMO immediately via phone or encrypted email (confirmation of email is necessary to ensure receipt) of any of the following OH-related incidents at Centers:

a. Death of a civil service or contractor employee while on official NASA duty.

b. Death of a member of the public while on NASA property or caused by NASA property or action.

c. Cluster investigations.

d. Infectious disease outbreaks.

e. Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) use and outcome.

f. Quality of care issues.

g. Workplace violence.

h. Medical incident or evacuation of civil service employees on official Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS) travel.

Note: Additional information on mishap reporting can be found in NPR 8621.1, NASA Procedural Requirements for Mishap and Close Call Reporting, Investigating, and Recordkeeping, and the appropriate Center mishap preparedness and contingency plan.

1.2.3 Centers shall notify the DASHO of a pre-scheduled inspection or visit, or within one hour when Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), or other Federal or state occupational safety or health regulatory inspectors arrive on a Center or facility to conduct an inspection or visit.

1.3 Health and Medical Technical Authority

NPR 7120.11, NASA Health and Medical Technical Authority (HMTA) Implementation describes the roles, responsibilities, and procedural requirements for implementing the HMTA to protect the health and lives of all individuals on an aircraft or a spacecraft from hazards associated with performing flight missions and associated testing and training. The CHMO and HTMA will collaborate to produce applicable evaluations and develop medical requirements and standards in cases where there is not currently Federal or industry standard surveillance.

1.4 General Center Responsibilities

1.4.1 Center Directors shall:

a. Advocate for their OHP budget and resources to ensure compliance with OSHA, state, and local regulations, and NASA requirements.

b. Coordinate with the CHMO, as soon as possible, if a reduction in budget is anticipated to have a significant impact on the delivery of OH services.

c. Ensure all pertinent OH requirements are included in commercial partners, Space Act, other Federal agencies, international parties, and tenant agreements, including provision of supporting documentation to NASA to affirm these partners OHPs are in compliance with all applicable portions of this document.

d. During the transition period between contracts for ongoing support services, ensure communication to all former and successor employers of the right to occupational exposure and medical surveillance data documented by the previous employer as required by Occupational Safety and Health Standards, 29 CFR pt. 1910.

Note: OSHA defines a successor employer as a new employer that continues its predecessor's business in substantially unchanged form and hires employees of the predecessor as a majority workforce.

1.4.2 Centers shall:

a. Establish a master schedule for the review of IH workplace exposure surveillance data and OM medical surveillance requirements for each workplace/exposure group. The frequency at which each workplace/exposure group is reviewed will be based upon a hazard risk assessment, but no less frequently than every three years.

Note: The most protective requirements apply where conflicts exist between NASA health and safety requirements, OSHA requirements, and other Federal, state, or local regulations.

b. Implement effective OHPs as measured by the Agency's OH review process.

c. Use the designated Agency EHRS, unless an OCHMO waiver is approved, in accordance with NPR 1441.1, NASA Records Management Program Requirements.

1.4.4 Purchase requesters/requirements initiators shall coordinate with Centers to ensure requirements documents include all pertinent OH requirements.

1.4.5 Procurement organizations shall work with Centers and purchase requesters/requirements initiators to ensure all pertinent OH Federal and Agency provisions/clauses are included in contracts.

1.4.6 Practitioners (e.g., physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, industrial hygienists, health physicists, and physical fitness professionals) shall be familiar with Center employees' tasks and work environment to better understand specific OH issues and cases, as well as the mechanism of injury, exposure, or illness; and evaluate safety and OH concerns.

1.5 OSHA Annual Report

1.5.1 NASA is required to submit an annual report to the Secretary of Labor containing the status of NASA's Safety and Health Programs during the preceding year, goals and objectives for the current year, and a plan for achieving those goals. The procedure for collecting the requisite data will be as follows:

a. Each year the OCHMO and Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) electronically forward the OSHA Annual Report format to the Centers with a prescribed deadline for submission of the OSHA-requested information to the OCHMO and OSMA.

b. The Safety and Health organizations at Centers jointly complete the form, provide the associated documentation, and return all OSHA requested information to the OCHMO and the OSMA in the prescribed format and electronic media by the designated deadline.

c. Other NASA organizations support information compilation, editing, and writing of the OSHA Annual Report effort as needed.

d. The OCHMO and OSMA jointly prepare the report which is signed by the DASHO and the Director, Safety and Assurance Requirements Division, and submitted to OSHA.

1.6 Drug Free Workplace

1.6.1 The Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer has overall responsibility for NASA's Drug Free Workplace Program (DFWP) in accordance with Drug-Free Federal Workplace, E. O. 12564, (1986), and Drug-Free Workplace, 41 U.S.C. ch. 81. See NPR 3792.1, NASA's Plan for a Drug Free Workplace, for specific details.

1.6.2 The Agency Medical Review Officer is located at the NASA Shared Services Center and is assigned to all Centers.

1.6.3 The OCHMO supports the DFWP by:

a. Reviewing Agency EAPs to confirm their support of program requirements.

b. Developing the NASA EAP policies described in chapter 5.

1.7 Credentialing, Education, and Training of Occupational Health Professionals

1.7.1 Credentialing and privileging of all licensed medical practitioners and non-licensed healthcare support employees providing healthcare for Agency employees is documented in NPR 1850.1, Quality Assurance of the NASA Medical Care. Centers shall:

a. Comply with Federal, state, and professional requirements applicable to all OH professional disciplines, including OM, IH, HP, FS, EAP, FWC, and HPWF.

b. Ensure credentialing and privileging of all licensed medical practitioners and non-licensed health-care support employees providing healthcare for Agency employees.

c. Establish and maintain effective organizations to fulfill OH requirements using professionally qualified persons.

d. Ensure discipline-specific professional licensures, certifications, and accreditations necessary for operations are sustained.

e. Ensure every clinic has a least one individual, other than the Medical Director, with sufficient expertise in using the Agency's EHRS to assist other users with training, troubleshooting and to act as a liaison with the Agency EHRS helpdesk.

f. Ensure hiring policies comply with Federal and NASA credentialing requirements and with state licensure statutes such that, OH professionals have experience and credentials commensurate with program requirements.

g. Ensure OH civil service employees are current with relevant education, training, and credentialing requirements.

h. Ensure OH program contracts require personnel to be current and obtain education, training, and credentialing at their company's cost, since appropriated funds cannot be used for contractor training activities.

i. Conduct assessments of OH professional and career development needs to determine the training required of OH professionals and communicate these needs to Center management to meet professional OH licensure and certification.

1.8 Website Initiatives and Capabilities

1.8.1 The OCHMO websites include the following:

a. An internal website designed for use by OH professionals that provides resources, tools, and policy information.

b. An internal website for NASA general workforce users that serves as a hub for OH information, events, and resources related to health promotion, preventive health, mental health, physical fitness, and other similar topics.

c. A public-access website to provide general information about OCHMO programs, divisions, employees, and how OCHMO contributes to NASA's mission.

1.9 Support of Federal and Interagency Initiatives

1.9.1 The OCHMO shall coordinate and collaborate with various Federal agencies (e.g., the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and DOL) on health and work/life policies and initiatives.

1.9.2 Centers shall adopt policies and implement programs in support of a healthy work environment as directed by the OCHMO, based on guidance from other Federal authorities pertaining to OH, work/life, and similar issues.

1.10 Recordkeeping

1.10.1 Centers shall:

a. Ensure OH contracts expressly require keeping all records containing employee health information as per NASA and Center requirements.

b. Ensure each new OH contract or contract renewal contains specific language on recordkeeping requirements.

c. Safeguard, maintain, and disposition records for all OHP discipline-specific areas in accordance with Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, 42 U.S.C § 2000ff et seq., Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, NPR 1382.1, NASA Privacy Procedural Requirements, NPR 1441.1, NRRS 1441.1, NASA Record Retention Schedules, and NASA-EHRS-RMP-000, Records Management Plan for the NASA Electronic Health Record System.