Section 855.370  Workplace Entry and Exit Procedures

Personnel Entry and Exit.  All of the following procedures shall be posted in the clean room by the abatement contractor.  These procedures shall be enforced by the abatement contractor and shall be followed throughout the abatement project until clearance air monitoring has been performed and the area has passed final clearance.

a)         All personnel and authorized visitors shall enter the work area through the worker decontamination enclosure system.

b)         All personnel who enter the work area shall sign the entry log, located in the clean room, upon entry and exit.

c)         All personnel, before entering the work area, shall read and be familiar with all posted regulations, personal protection requirements (including workplace entry and exit procedures) and emergency procedures.  A sign-off sheet shall be used to acknowledge that these have been reviewed and understood by all personnel prior to entry.

d)         All personnel shall proceed first to the clean room, remove all clothing and don respiratory protection, disposable coveralls, head covering and foot covering.  Clean respirators and protective clothing shall be provided and utilized by each person for each separate entry into the work area.

e)         Personnel, wearing designated personal protective equipment, shall proceed from the clean room, through the shower room and equipment room, to the main work area.

f)         Before leaving the work area, all personnel shall remove gross contamination from the outside of respirators and protective clothing by brushing and/or wet cleaning procedures.  Each person shall clean the bottoms of protective footwear immediately prior to entering the equipment room.

g)         Personnel shall proceed to the equipment room, where all protective equipment except respirators shall be removed.  Disposable clothing shall be deposited into labeled containers for disposal (see Section 855.390(h)).

h)         Reusable, contaminated footwear shall be stored in the equipment room when not in use in the work area and shall be disposed of as asbestos contaminated waste upon completion of abatement.  (Rubber boots may be decontaminated at the completion of the abatement for reuse.)

i)          Still wearing respirators, personnel shall proceed to the shower area, clean the outside of the respirator and the exposed face area under running water prior to removal of the respirator, and then shower and shampoo to remove residual asbestos contamination.  Various types of respirators will require slight modification of these procedures.  An airline respirator with HEPA filtered disconnect protection may be disconnected in the equipment room and worn into the shower.  A powered air-purifying respirator facepiece should be disconnected from the filter/power pack assembly, which is not waterproof, upon entering the shower.

j)          After showering and drying, personnel shall proceed to the clean room and don clean disposable clothing if returning to the work area or street clothes at the end of the work shift.