OSHA doesn’t require blood spill kits

Hi everyone, it’s Scott Wallask logging on this morning.

Someone asked me last week about OSHA requirements for blood spill kits under the bloodborne pathogens standard, and my recollection was that there was no such mandate.

But I was curious and researched the standard, and it turns out my gut feeling was correct. Under paragraph (d)(4)(ii)(A) of the standard, OSHA requires the following:

Contaminated work surfaces shall be decontaminated with an appropriate disinfectant after completion of procedures; immediately or as soon as feasible when surfaces are overtly contaminated or after any spill of blood or other potentially infectious materials; and at the end of the work shift if the surface may have become contaminated since the last cleaning.

There is nothing in the standard that specifically notes the need for a blood spill kit, and if you search for the term “kit” in the standard’s wording, nothing comes up.

I also double-checked OSHA’s compliance directive for the bloodborne pathogens standard, which is basically guideline for inspectors. The directive confirms that OSHA’s wording for (d)(4)(ii) represents minimum requirements and that there is no mandate for a kit.

That doesn’t mean you can’t have a spill kit ready to clean up blood, and in some cases it’s probably a best practice. But OSHA leaves that decision up to you.