Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:06:32.036Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

OSHA Inspections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

August J. Valenti  and
Michael D. Decker
August J. Valenti*
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Maine Medical Center, Portland, Maine
Michael D. Decker
Affiliation:
Department of Preventive Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
*
Division of Infectious Diseases, Maine Medical Center, 22 Bramhall St, Portland, ME 04102-3175
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 requires that every worker be provided with a safe and healthful workplace and authorizes the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to conduct workplace inspections. OSHA conducts workplace inspections in hospitals and checks for compliance with the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, the Enforcement Policy and Procedures for Occupational Exposure to Tuberculosis, and the Hazardous Chemicals Standards, among others. The hospital epidemiologist bears considerable responsibility for developing and implementing plans to protect employees from occupational exposures to infectious hazards such as bloodborne pathogens and tuberculosis. To prepare for an inspection, the hospital epidemiologist must understand the basis on which OSHA operates and must proceed in a thoughtful, coordinated manner.

Type
Practical Healthcare Epidemiology
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 16 , Issue 8 , August 1995 , pp. 478 - 482
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. US Department of Labor, Occupational Health and Safety Administration. Occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens: final role. Federal Register December 6, 1991;56:6400464182.Google Scholar
2. Clark, RA. Enforcement Policy and Procedures for Occupational Exposure to Tuberculosis. Washington, DC: Occupational Safety and Health Administration; October 8, 1993. US Department of Labor. Memorandum to Regional Administrators.Google Scholar
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guidelines for preventing the transmission of Mycobacterium tubercubsis in health-care facilities, 1994. MMWR 1994;43(No RR-13).Google Scholar
4. Decker, MD. The OSHA bloodborne hazard standard. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1992;13:407–417.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5. Decker, MD. OSHA enforcement policy for occupational exposure to tuberculosis. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1993;14:689693.Google Scholar
6. American Hospital Association. OSHA's Final Bloodborne Pathogens Standard: A Special Briefing. February 1992. Item 155904.Google Scholar
7. US Department of Health and Human Services. Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories; May, 1988; publication no. NIH 888395.Google Scholar
8. Centers for Disease Control. Guidelines for preventing the transmission of tuberculosis in health-care settings, with special focus on HIV-related issues. MMWR 1990;(RR-17)39.Google Scholar
9. Gerberding, JL. Occupational infectious diseases or infectious occupational diseases? Bridging the views on tuberculosis control. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1993;14:686688.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed