Mounted search and rescue

["Irvin Lichtenstein " <ilichten1@verizon.net>]

In addition to the unintended consequences I described and the legalities of

maintaining initial and recurring records of physicals there can be other
fallout from your training or other administrative activities. 
HIPPA deals primarily with not revealing medical information to unauthorized
persons.  This can occur at an accident scene as well as in your office.
Merely describing a subject as deceased is revealing medical information.

Our liability insurance company recently asked all its insureds to adopt a
policy regarding cell phone cameras (and other web enabled cameras) on
emergency scenes to protect both patient information and possible evidence
from being sent to the WWW before it is sent to the incident commander. 
 
If your state is covered by Fed OSHA or a state equivalent you must retain
accident or on-the-job incident records.  In the case of incidents covered
by EPA HAZWOPER rules this is for 30 years after the member leaves the
organization or dies.
 
There are also considerations concerning training records. In most states
individual training records are considered private personnel records.  If
you belong to a state SAR council that demands rosters and certification
lists with names on them you are probably violating the law if you furnish
them without written authorization from the member each time the records are

made available. If your organization is audited, the auditor will want to
see that the training you paid for was for members and that they went, he
does not need to know if they passed and auditors do not take copies of the
records with them.  You may be covered by a "right to know" law, or
protected by one.   


Irv Lichtenstein 
-----Original Message-----
From: msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of T'mi Finkle
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 5:54 AM
To: 'Mounted search and rescue'
Subject: Re: [MSAR] Fitness Requirements for MSAR Unit Members