Infection Control

Evaluating the possibility  of an OSHA infectious disease standard

Briefings on Infection Control, August 1, 2010

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How would a new regulation affect compliance within medical facilities? 

After reading this article, you will be able to: 

  • Explain why OSHA is considering an infectious disease standard
  • Recognize the difference between standards and guidelines
  • Analyze the process for promulgating OSHA standards

For some time, the healthcare community has been anticipating a new OSHA regulation, most likely in the form of an aerosol transmissible disease (ATD) standard similar to the regulation promulgated in California under the state-run Cal/OSHA program.

But during a regulatory Web chat April 26, David Michaels, MD, assistant secretary of labor for OSHA, announced that OSHA would focus instead on a broader infectious diseases standard, rather than the ATD standard that was foreshadowed in a regulatory agenda announcement last fall. 

“This really came out of the blue,” says Bruce Cunha RN MS COHN-S, manager of employee health and safety at the Marshfield (WI) Clinic. “We were obviously expecting that they would do a respiratory standard like California’s, and even that has its own issues, but this one is so much more encompassing.”

On May 6, OSHA officially released a request for information (RFI) for public comment on occupational exposure to infectious disease, specifically in healthcare settings. Although the Bloodborne Pathogens and Respiratory Protection standards address some IC hazards, OSHA currently does not have a standard that protects workers from airborne, droplet, and contact modes of transmission. 

“OSHA is interested in strategies that are being used in such healthcare and other healthcare-related work settings to mitigate the risk of occupationally-acquired infectious diseases,” the RFI states. “As such, OSHA would like to collect information and data on the facilities and the tasks potentially exposing workers to this risk; successful employee infection control programs; control methodologies being utilized (including engineering, work practice, and administrative controls and personal protective equipment); medical surveillance programs; and training. OSHA will use the information received in response to this request to determine what action, if any, the Agency may take to further limit the spread of occupationally-acquired infectious diseases in these types of settings.”

“All workplaces must be safe workplaces,” Michaels said in a press release. “We know that workers in healthcare and related facilities may be exposed to infectious agents, and they deserve to be protected. Preventing infectious disease among workers also will reduce exposure to their family members and to patients.”

 

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login.

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