The Environmental Health Program encompasses the following three major disciplines: industrial hygiene, radiological health, and food sanitation (activities relating to maintaining safe and healthful conditions in dining and food preparation areas). It is NASA's Environmental Health policy to recognize, evaluate, and control those occupational and environmental hazards or stresses arising in or from the workplace that may cause sickness, impaired health and well-being, or significant discomfort and inefficiency among employees. To accomplish this, NASA shall--

a. Ensure that all employees will be provided with a healthful workplace environment that is free from harmful levels of exposure to toxic or hazardous chemical, physical, and biological agents and free from ergonomic stresses, which may result in illness, serious physical injury, or even death.

b. Comply with all Federal standards/requirements pertinent to workplace hazards. In the event of conflicting standards or regulations, the ones that are most protective for employees will be met.

c. Maintain and utilize an inventory of chemical and physical potential health hazards/agents in all NASA workplaces to ensure that hazaradous agents are tracked and to minimize usage and storage of such agents whenever feasible.

d. Review contracts and work orders to ensure that necessary health hazard controls are included and review purchase requests for hazardous new materials (including new applications and uses) or otherwise monitor the issuance and use of hazardous new materials.

e. Provide appropriate assistance to staff (e.g., safety and environmental) and line organizations (e.g., engineering, program, and procurement) to ensure the incorporation of protective health measures in new equipment, emergency response processes, and facilities or in modifications to existing ones.

f. Conduct periodic inspections (at least annually), by highly qualified Environmental Health personnel, of all facilities, operations, and work areas to identify and evaluate potential health hazards, including biological agents.

g. Employ sufficient and pertinent exposure-monitoring techniques to ensure compliance and conformity with environmental health standards and guidelines.

h. Recommend techniques or methods for hazard abatement where exposures are found to be excessive.

i. Develop plans and procedures and conduct Center reviews to determine the effectiveness of environmental health programs.

a. 29 U.S.C. 668, Section 19, of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, as amended, Programs of Federal Agencies.

b. 5 U.S.C. 7901, Health Services Programs.

c. Executive Order 12196, dated February 26, 1980, Occupational Safety and Health Programs for Federal Employees, 3 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) (1980 compilation).

d. 29 CFR Part 1960, Basic Program Elements for Federal Employee Occupational Safety and Health Programs and Related Matters.

a. 42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq., The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.

b. 10 CFR Part 20, Standards for Protection Against Radiation; Part 30, Rules of General Applicability to Domestic Licensing Byproduct Materials, and Part 50, Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities.

c. 29 CFR Part 1910, Occupational Safety and Health Standards.

d. 29 CFR Part 1926, Safety and Health Regulations for Construction.

e. 40 CFR Part 61, Subpart M, National Emission Standard for Asbestos; 40 CFR Subchapter E, Pesticide Programs; 40 CFR Part 761, Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) Manufacturing, Processing, Distribution in Commerce, and Use Prohibitions; and 40 CFR Part 763, Asbestos.

f. NPR 1000.3, The NASA Organization.

g. NPD 1800.1, NASA Occupational Health Program.

h. NPD 8710.2, NASA Safety and Health Program.

i. NPG 8715.1, NASA Safety and Health Handbook, Occupational Safety and Health Programs.

j. NPD 1440.6, NASA Records Management.

k. ANSI C95.1, Safety Levels with Respect to Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagentic Fields.

l. ANSI Z136.2, Safe Use of Lasers.

m. Reserved.

n. Reserved.

a. The Chief Health and Medical Officer (CHMO) is responsible for the overall NASA Occupational Health Program including environmental health. The CHMO's responsibilities also include the following:

(1) Establishing and coordinating of overall Agency Environmental Health policy.

(2) Approving of environmental health standards, procedures, and guidelines.

(3) Advocating and supporting funding for the NASA Occupational Health Program through the NASA Health Council, Capitol Investment Council, and the individual or collective Institutional Program Offices, as appropriate.

(4) Appropriately communicating and coordinating on Agencywide environmental health issues with Headquarters functional offices via the NASA Health Council.

b. The Director, Occupational Health Programs, located at Headquarters, serves as the Executive Secretary of the NASA Health Council and is responsible for the oversight of the Occupational Health Program and ensuring compliance with programmatic, statutory, and regulatory guidelines and policy implementation.

c. The Director, Occupational Health Programs is responsible for the following:

(1) Oversight and management of overall program operations and reporting results of these reviews of Center occupational health operations to the Director of Occupational Health Programs and the NASA Health Council, as requested.

(2) Representation of Agency Environmental Health interests for meetings of the NASA Health Council, as requested.

(3) Coordination and development of environmental health standards, procedures, and guidelines for approval.

(4) Provision of staff assistance in support of Center environmental health programs.

d. The Senior Environmental Health Officer, located at the Principal Center KSC in the Office of Safety, Health, and Independent Assessments, is responsible for the following:

(1) Ensuring that Centers are informed of applicable laws, regulations, and standards, as referenced in Sections 3 and 4 of this document.

(2) Serving as the primary point of contact for environmental health activities.

(3) Reviewing Center environmental health policies and documents.

(4) Providing consultation and technical guidance to Centers and Headquarters.

(5) Coordinating environmental health activities with appropriate Headquarters functional organization to ensure that applicable operational responsibilities are met.

e. Enterprise Associate Administrators/Institutional Program Officers shall provide support for critical environmental health programs at the NASA Centers they oversee.

f. Center Directors and the Assistant Administrator for Institutional and Corporate Management have the responsibility for implementation and operation of Environmental Health Programs at their respective Centers in full compliance with this NPD.

The overall success of the Environmental Health Program shall be determined through assessment of the degree of compliance with this policy; legal and regulatory requirements, and performance in the following areas:

a. Self-evaluations and audits of environmental health program areas;

b. Trends and reduction in numbers of Office of Workers' Compensation claims for occupational illnesses;

c. Effectiveness of hazard control measures; and

d. Number of employees trained in hazard recognition, control, and other preventive practices.