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California hospital hit with major fine for ATD violation

Briefings on Infection Control, July 1, 2010

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A $100,000-plus fine serves as a warning for other California hospitals

A California hospital was hit with a fine in April for violations of the state?s aerosol transmissible disease (ATD) standard?the only one currently on the books in the United States.

The Department of Industrial Relations? (DIR) Division of Occupational Safety and Health, better known as Cal/OSHA, fined Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland $101,485 for violating numerous state health and safety standards that contributed to a hospital employee and an Oakland police officer developing bacterial meningitis.

Cal/OSHA also fined the Oakland police and fire departments for failing to limit emergency workers? exposure to the contagious disease.

Along with a respiratory therapist at the hospital, an Oakland police officer was also exposed to the patient with bacterial meningitis in December. Both required hospitalization, although they survived the illness.

On May 18, the hospital officially submitted an appeal to retract the fine, according to a spokesperson at the DIR.

Clearly, hospitals in California need to embrace the new regulations or risk the fallout from enforcement, says Steven MacArthur, safety consultant at The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro, Inc., in Marblehead, MA. 

?The advice to hospitals is to refrain from dragging their feet when it comes to the evolution of regulatory standards,? MacArthur says.

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