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OSHA offers respiratory toolkit for hospitals

Hospital Safety Insider, August 13, 2015

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In a move largely seen as the latest effort from OSHA to crack down on some of the most dangerous hazards facing healthcare workers, OSHA has released a toolkit designed to help healthcare workers and safety professionals understand their protections during infectious disease outbreaks.

The guidance manual, entitled Hospital Respiratory Protection Program Toolkit: Resources for Respirator Program Administrators, was released in May and is a collaboration with the CDC and NIOSH that covers topics including why hospitals need a respiratory protection program, the types of respirators and protection available, and how to develop a protection program in a facility.

The toolkit is the latest of several that OSHA has released in the last year and is likely an attempt to address statistics that show that healthcare workers suffer some of the highest number of workplace injuries and illnesses in U.S. workplaces.

Last year, OSHA dedicated a portion of its website to preventing slips, trips, and falls in hospitals, by far the largest cause of injuries in healthcare. Then, earlier this year, an update was issued to its Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Healthcare and Social Service Workers, known to many in the healthcare safety field as OSHA Rule 3148, and was a response to a higher incidence of active shooters and other violent events in healthcare facilities.

Read more here.

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