Paragraph (h) requires employers to make an initial (baseline) medical examination available to each employee required to wear a respirator for 30 or more days per year, unless the employee has received an examination that meets the requirements of the standard within the last three years. Can an employer rely on an employee’s verbal statement that he or she has already received such an examination?

No. An employee’s verbal statement that he or she received an initial medical examination from a prior employer is not sufficient to discharge the employer’s responsibility to offer such an examination. However, an employer may rely on documentation from the employee that demonstrates the employee received a medical examination meeting the requirements of paragraph (h)(2) within the past three years and that contains the information described in paragraph (h)(6) (e.g., a copy of the written medical opinion sent to a prior employer and provided to the employee). See 29 C.F.R. § 1926.1153(h)(6)(iii); 81 Fed. Reg. at 16836. An employer that obtains such documentation need not offer the employee an initial medical exam. The employer must, however, offer the employee periodic medical examinations at least every three years, based on the documented date of the employee’s last medical examination with a previous employer. Examinations must be offered more frequently, if the PLHCP who performed an examination recommended more frequent examinations. See 29 C.F.R. § 1926.1153(h)(3); 81 Fed. Reg. at 16818-19. The employer must retain, in accordance with paragraph (j)(3), any medical records upon which it relied to discharge its responsibility to provide a medical examination or determine when the next medical examination must be offered.