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OSHA to impose respiratory standard on health care facilities

Hospital Safety Connection, January 15, 2004

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As a result of its decision to withdraw its proposed tuberculosis (TB) standard, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) on December 31 said it plans to apply its general industry respiratory protection standard to workers exposed to TB in health care facilities.

New requirements include updating the facility's respirator program, complying with amended medical evaluation requirements, annual fit testing of respirators, and some training and recordkeeping provisions.

OSHA published a proposed TB standard on October 17, 1997, to control occupational exposure to TB. But the agency withdrew the rule from its semiannual regulatory agenda published in the May 27, 2003, Federal Register, citing the 43% drop in reported TB cases since 1993. In addition, OSHA concluded that the risk is lower than expected because many workplaces already comply with the CDC's TB guidelines, so there was no need for a new rule from OSHA.

"Given these positive results, it's appropriate to let CDC continue the successful work it is doing, and focus our resources on reducing workplace hazards that are not being addressed through other control efforts," said OSHA Administrator John Henshaw in a prepared statement. "In addition, based on our extensive review of the issues related to respiratory protection, workers exposed to TB should have the same protections as those exposed to other types of hazards in the workplace."

OSHA plans to phase in enforcement of the new requirements to allow affected employers to come into compliance.

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