Archive for: April, 2009
Tripping up over the two-step TST
A safety officer was perplexed. What to do with a student nurse, new to the organization, who objected to a two-step baseline tuberculin skin test (TST), which the organization required under its OSHA policy?
She had a TST less than a year ago—it was negative—so why do another? Furthermore, her physician asked to see the OSHA documentation that required the two-step TST.
Of course the safety officer couldn’t find it.
Concerns about an aging workforce
Although it’s easy to point to the recession as the culprit for many of our problems, in the healthcare system or otherwise, there is one direct link to that may not become fully evident for a few more years.
Ask the expert: OSHA standards and volunteers
Q: Concerning the bloodborne pathogens standard, is an organization required to provide the same education and vaccines to volunteers as it does to employees?
A: Volunteers are not usually covered under OSHA.
Top-ten list of OSHA interpretation letters
Another David whose last name also begins with an “L” has made a pretty good living with top-ten lists. So I’m giving you my top-ten list of OSHA interpretation letters to help resolve disputes about compliance with the bloodborne pathogens standard.
I find interpretation letters helpful in answering OSHA questions because they usually get at specific situations, whereas the standard is written too broadly to answer those “show-me-where-OSHA-says” challenges.
Infection control considerations for box fans
Last week fellow blogger Terry Jo Gile brought up some safety precautions to consider when using air conditioners.
But one reader in particular wondered if using box fans would be in violation of safety or IC practices.
Ask the expert: Sinks in exam rooms
Q: Are there any OSHA regulations that speak to the need for a sink to be in every exam room in an office practice setting?
A: A sink is not required in every exam room, but hand hygiene facilities must be readily available. This usually means having a hand sanitizing dispenser in the room.
Doc’s penchant for doing laundry not an OSHA violation, but hold the starch
Doctors insistent on having it their way in a practice is nothing new, but did you ever hear of a doctor who wants to launder her patients’ examination gowns?
A Medical Environment Update subscriber asked if home laundering of patient exam gowns was an OSHA violation. It seems that an OB/GYN, who is an employee of the practice, so strongly objects to the paper exam gowns routinely used—she is concerned about the comfort factor—that she wants the practice to provide cloth gowns. To defray any cost-prohibitive objections, she will launder the gowns herself, at home.
Weekly Poll: New OSHA head
President Obama recently appointed Jordan Barab, a “no-hold-barred” safety adviser, as acting head of OSHA. Barab’s seemingly stringent approach to safety regulation could mean significant changes… or maybe the bureaucracy of Washington will be too much for him.
President Obama recently appointed Jordan Barab, a What do you think of the new OSHA head?
Keeping employees cool and comfortable
For many of us it looks as though the winter months are beginning to dissipate into glimpses of spring weather. Soon we’ll be cranking up the AC and begging for a break from the heat.
Which brings up an interesting point regarding air conditioners in the lab.
Our own “Mac-blogger” has a new book out
Congratulations to OSHA Healthcare Advisor blogger Steve MacArthur on the publication of his new book, The Hospital Safety Director’s Handbook. If you enjoy reading Steve’s OSHA Healthcare Advisor posts, you’ll find the information in his new book to be an essential safety resource.
