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"Requires the employer to solicit input from non-managerial employees responsible for direct patient care in the identification, selection and evaluation of effective engineering and work practice controls." - Read on to find out more about OSHA's standards and clinician input on device selection."
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"Virus penetrated ethylene glove 40% of the time, increasing to 94% when pre-treated with 70% ethanol". - Learn the benefits and limitations of glove barrier protection."
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"When the contaminated linen is handled, if the worker isn't well protected and wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), the healthcare worker can be exposed to these contaminants". - Find out more about potential environment exposures."
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"Hepatitis B virus (HBV) can persist in the environment for prolonged periods and can remain infective in dried blood at room temperature for more than a week". - Understand more about the risks and potential injury of coming in contact with a patient's blood."
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"As decisions for post-exposure prophylaxis often need to be made within hours, a healthcare worker should seek care in the facility areas responsible for managing occupational exposure". - Know the steps you can take to protect yourself from blood exposure and needlestick injury."
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OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen Standard — 29 CFR 1910.1030

• The OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen Standard requires consideration and implementation of devices designed to eliminate of minimize exposure.
• 1910.1030(c)(1)(iv)(B) - Document annually consideration and implementation of appropriate commercially available and effective safer medical devices designed to eliminate or minimize occupational exposure.
• An aspect of the OSHA definition of sharps with engineered sharps injury protection is a built-in safety feature that effectively reduces the risk of an exposure incident.
• 1910.1030(b) - Sharps with engineered sharps injury protection means a non-needle sharp or a needle device used for withdrawing body fluids, accessing a vein or artery, or administering medications or other fluids, with a built-in safety feature or mechanism that effectively reduces the risk of an exposure incident.
• 1910.1030(d)(2)(i) - Engineering and work practice controls shall be used to eliminate or minimize employee exposure. Where occupational exposure remains after institution of these controls, personal protective equipment shall also be used.
• Employers must solicit input from those responsible for direct patient care in the selection and evaluation of effective engineering controls.
• CPL 02-02-069 OSHA Directive–Enforcement Procedures for the Occupation Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens - Paragraph (c)(1)(v) requires the employer to solicit input from non-managerial employees responsible for direct patient care in the identification, selection and evaluation of effective engineering and work practice controls and document the solicitation in the Exposure Control Plan. The employer must solicit employee input in a manner appropriate to the circumstances in the workplace. Methods for soliciting employee input may include joint labor-management safety committees; involvement in informal problem-solving groups; participation in safety meetings and audits, employee surveys, worksite inspections, or exposure incident investigations; using a suggestion box or other effective methods for obtaining written employee comments; and participation in the evaluation of devices through pilot testing. The opportunities for employee input shall be effectively communicated to employees. Input from employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement may also be requested through their bargaining agent. Employers are not required to request input from each and every exposed employee; however, the employees selected must represent the range of exposure situations encountered in the workplace (e.g., emergency department, pediatrics, nuclear medicine). The employer must document the process by which the input was requested and identify the employees or the positions of those employees who were involved.



INSPECTION GUIDELINES: Compliance Officers should determine how the devices used in the facility were selected and review the employers' documentation of their employees' input. Many departments require different features in a safer device and have different concerns for both employee and patient safety. Employees in various departments and situations should be interviewed to determine the extent to which the employer solicited employee input. The fact that some employees have not provided input does not automatically mean the employer has not solicited input, but should prompt the compliance officer to thoroughly investigate whether input was solicited.




CITATION GUIDELINES: This section should only be cited if input was not solicited from non-managerial employees involved in administering treatment or performing any procedure in the presence of an individual receiving care. Any employee who, for example, collects blood from patients in a nursing home; administers flu vaccinations in a factory employee health unit, or collects blood from other employees for research purposes would be performing "patient care." Laboratory workers, on the other hand, who do not have patient contact, would not be included in this provision.




To read full article click here:
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=DIRECTIVES&p_id=2570

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• Although gloves manufactured with different materials have comparable leak defect limits when removed directly from the box, their actual on-the-job barrier performance may be extremely different.
• Occupationally Acquired HIV has been traced to the contact of soiled material on chapped hands.
• Stay conscious of what contaminated gloves may be touching.

To read full article click here:
http://www.kchealthcare.com/europe/ResourceCenter/Literature/Gloves/HC213_00_UK.pdf

• Glove punctures often go undetected and staff are often unaware of glove punctures.
• Virus penetrated ethylene glove 40% of the time, increasing to 94% when pre-treated with 70% ethanol.
• Virus penetrated PVC glove 22% of the time increasing to 56% when pre-treated with 70% ethanol. So what? Common skin preparation agents contain 70% ethanol.

To read full article click here:
http://www.molnlycke.com/au/Surgical-products/Learn-More/Biogel-Topics/Glove-Barrier-Protection/

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• Updated surgical Attire Recommended Practice Takes Stronger Stance, Nixes Home Laundering.



To read full article click here:
http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/articles/2010/10/updated-surgical-attire-recommended-practice-takes-stronger-stance-nixes-home-laundering.aspx

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• Nearly all of the safety professionals in a recent survey said that workers in their organizations had at some point failed to wear the necessary safety equipment while on the job.



To read full article click here:
http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/news/2010/08/workers-risking-injury-by-not-wearing-ppe.aspx

• Hepatitis B virus (HBV) can persist in the environment for prolonged periods and can remain infective in dried blood at room temperature for more than a week.
• Infective concentrations of HBV have been detected on environmental surfaces in the absence of visible blood.
• Its ability to remain stable outside the human host supports other evidence that HBV infection may occur through direct and indirect means of transmission.
• Avoidance of exposures and adherence to Standard Precautions and engineering and work practice controls remain essential to preventing occupational. infection, given that no vaccination or post exposure. prophylaxis measures are currently available for Hepatitis C virus (HCV).
• Health care personnel underestimate the risk of HBV and HCV transmission, even when a patient source was known to be HVB or HCV positive.

• "To place a patient or health care worker at risk over a dollar is penny wise and pound foolish".

To read full article click here:
http://www.repertoiremag.com/Article.asp?Id=3567

• The average blood and bodily fluid exposure rate was 7.26 per 100 occupied beds.
• 95.5% of exposed body part involved mucous membrane or non-intact skin.
• 80.3% of largest exposure location involved the head or face.

To read full article click here:
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/epinet/epinet-2007-rates.pdf

• "Occupational exposures to blood through needle sticks and other injuries from sharp objects, contact with mucous membranes, and splashes to nonintact skin are frequently reported by health care personnel."
• The overall mean cost for exposures to human immunodeficiency virus was $2,456 (range, $907-$4,838).
• "Management of occupational exposures to blood and body fluid is costly; the best way to avoid these costs is prevention of exposures."

• A long standing problem in disease prevention and infection control, specifically for occupational exposures, has been poor adherence to universal precautions and poor compliance with usage of personal protective equipment.

• At the end of 2006, an estimated 1,106,400 persons in the United States were living with HIV infection, with 21% undiagnosed.
• In 2008, CDC estimated that approximately 56,300 people were newly infected with HIV in 2006.

To read full article click here:
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm#hivest

• "The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimated that in 2008, 3.2 million persons in the United States alone have chronic HCV infection."



To read full article click here:
http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/15/9/1499.htm

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• The 1991 OSHA Blood borne Pathogens Standard requires employers to provide hepatitis B vaccination at no cost.
• As of 2003, it was estimated that 75% of health care personnel were vaccinated for HBV.

• Healthcare workers who have received the hepatitis B vaccine and developed immunity have virtually no risk of infection.

To read full article click here:
http://www.the-hospitalist.org/details/article/853609/What_Should_I_Do_If_I_Get_a_Needlestick.html