What 29 CFR 1910.1020 requires (plain English)
29 CFR 1910.1020, Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records, gives workers, their designated representatives, and OSHA the right to see the exposure-monitoring and medical records an employer keeps, and it sets how long those records must be preserved. It is the backbone that makes every substance-specific health standard enforceable over a worker's lifetime, because occupational disease can surface decades after exposure.
The core retention rules are long: employee exposure records must be kept for at least 30 years, and employee medical records for the duration of employment plus 30 years. A few narrow exceptions apply: background environmental sampling data need be kept only one year if the sample results and key data are retained, health-insurance claim records kept separately are exempt, and the records of employees who worked less than one year may be given to the employee at termination instead of retained.
On access, when an employee or a designated representative asks, the employer must provide the records in a reasonable time, place, and manner, within 15 working days, at no cost for the first copy. The standard also requires informing employees of the existence and location of these records and of their access rights. 1910.1020 works hand in hand with the health standards (asbestos, lead, silica, benzene and the rest), each of which points back to it for recordkeeping.