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"Prevention is the Best Medicine"
OSHA
ANNOUNCES OUTREACH EFFORT ON NEEDLESTICK PREVENTION
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is
reaching out to educate employers, health care workers and the general public
on OSHA's revision to the bloodborne pathogens standard. The revision will help
reduce needlestick injuries among healthcare workers and others who handle
medical sharps.
"Prevention is the best medicine," said Secretary of Labor
Elaine L. Chao. "The more emphasis we place up front on education and
prevention, the better able we are to protect workers. By revising this
standard, OSHA is giving employers a stronger tool to help reduce serious
injuries and illnesses caused by needles and sharps."
OSHA's education effort includes a collection of written
materials designed to explain specific aspects of the standard. Materials are
available on OSHA's web site at www.osha.gov.
During the outreach period, OSHA will not enforce the
new provisions of the standard that require employers to
maintain a sharps injury log and involve non-managerial employees in selecting
safer medical devices. Enforcement of these new provisions will begin on July
17, 2001. Meanwhile, enforcement will continue for requirements that employers
select safer needle devices as they become available (these have been required
since the bloodborne pathogens standard was effective in 1992).
"Safe needles protect workers from deadly injuries," said
R. Davis Layne, Acting OSHA Administrator. "All of us want our nation's
healthcare system to be as safe as possible. This rule and our accompanying
education effort are a positive step in that direction."
The agency is extending its partnership efforts with other
agencies, associations and labor organizations. Publications and curriculum
recommendations will be used to help educate employers and workers in health
care settings. For example, OSHA is drawing upon its existing partnerships with
public sector and professional organizations in this effort.
OSHA is also making available a presentation package
through its education centers - education and other nonprofit organizations
that offer training courses for the private and public sectors.
OSHA revised the bloodborne pathogens standard as mandated
by the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act. Passed unanimously by Congress
and signed into law on Nov. 6, 2000, the Act directed specific revisions to the
standard, including clarifying the requirement for employers to select safer
needle devices as they become available and involving employees in identifying
and choosing the devices.
The revised standard also requires employers with 11 or
more employees to maintain a log of injuries from contaminated sharps. A number
of industries classified as low-hazard-retail, service, finance, insurance and
real estate sectors are exempt from most requirements of recordkeeping; those
same industries are exempt from maintaining a sharps injury log.
The revised bloodborne pathogens standard was effective
Apr. 18, 2001. OSHA is currently updating the compliance directive -- last
revised in November 1999 -- which guides OSHA's compliance officers in
enforcing the standard.
States and territories that operate their own
OSHA-approved state programs must adopt the revisions to the federal bloodborne
pathogens standard, or a more stringent amendment to their existing standards
by Oct. 18, 2001. Although the original adoption date for state plan states was
July 17, 2001 (six months from the date the standard was originally published
in the Federal Register), an additional three months was added which coincides
with the federal government's education effort.
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(The text of this news
release is available on the OSHA website at http://www.osha.gov.) Information on this
release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request.
Voice phone: (202) 693-1999.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A fact sheet on the
revision to the bloodborne standard follows this press release. More
comprehensive information on the revision and FAQs can be found at
http://www.osha-slc.gov/needlesticks/index.html.
Highlights of OSHA's
Bloodborne Pathogens Standard Revision
On Nov. 6, 2000, Congress passed the Needlestick Safety and
Prevention Act directing OSHA to revise its bloodborne pathogens standard to
describe in greater detail its requirement for employers to identify and make
use of effective and safer medical devices. That revision was published on Jan.
18, 2001, and became effective April 18, 2001.
The revision specifies the types of engineering controls --
such as safer medical devices -- in the healthcare setting. It also adds two
requirements for employers; but, it does not add any new requirements to
protect workers from sharps injuries. The following is a summary of the
revisions:
- Two new definitions are included in the revision, while one existing
term is amended:
Sharps
with Engineered Sharps Injury Protections includes non-needle sharps or
needle devices used for withdrawing fluids or administering medications or
other fluids that contain built-in safety features, or mechanisms that
effectively reduce the risk of an exposure
incident. Needleless Systems are devices that do not
use needles for the collection or withdrawal of body fluids, or for the
administration of medication or fluids.
Engineering Controls include
all control measures that isolate or remove a bloodborne pathogen hazard from
the workplace. The revision now specifies that "self-sheathing needles" and
"safer medical devices, such as sharps with engineered sharps injury
protections and needleless systems" are engineering
controls.
- Employers must review their exposure
control plans annually to reflect changes in technology that will help
eliminate or reduce exposure to bloodborne pathogens. That review must include
documentation of the employer's consideration and implementation of appropriate
commercially available and effective safer devices.
- Employers must solicit input from
non-managerial health care workers regarding the identification, evaluation and
selection of effective engineering controls, including safer medical devices.
Examples of employees include those in different departments of the facility
(e.g., geriatric, pediatric, nuclear medicine, etc.).
- Employers with 11 or more employees who
are required to keep records by current recordkeeping standards, must maintain
a sharps injury log. The log must be maintained in a way to ensure employee
privacy and will contain, at minimum, the following information:
- type and brand of device involved in the incident, if known;
- location of the incident; and
- description of the incident.
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