Safety

What The Joint Commission, OSHA, and EPA have in store for the New Year

Hospital Safety Insider, December 30, 2009

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As we close out 2009 today, let’s take a quick look at what’s coming in 2010 from some of the major hospital safety regulators:
  • The Joint Commission shows no signs of letting up on life safety compliance, as evidenced by the latest citation statistics that put four fire protection provisions among the top 10 most cited standards in hospitals. We’ll also be watching whether the commission will put more emphasis on emergency management, which according to some reports from the field was not heavily reviewed in 2009 surveys.
  • OSHA has a new director in place, so expect increased activity in general out of the agency. Labor officials have said that OSHA will publish a formal request for information about airborne infectious diseases in March, which is likely to become a significant issue for hospital safety professionals to follow.
  • The Environmental Protection Agency capped off an active year for healthcare in 2009. It will be interesting to see if there is any movement on a proposed rule to reclassify hazardous pharmaceutical wastes. Also on the horizon is a new compliance deadline for the oil spill prevention, control, and countermeasure rule, which could affect hospitals.



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