The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulates all employers to provide a safe, healthy and accident free workplace. The objective of OSHA is to ensure healthy workplaces by setting up standards for employers, which they accomplish by training the employers, education and assistance. The mission of the OSHA is to save lives, prevent injuries, and protect the health of America’s workers, and as a part of the Department of Labor, OSHA promotes worker safety and health in every workplace in the United States . OSHA requires employers to act in accordance with the General Duty Clause of the OSH Act that states employers to keep their place of work free of severe known hazards.
OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard protects the employees working in occupations where they are at risk of exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials . The Bloodborne Pathogens standard protects workers from the risk of acquaintance to bloodborne pathogens, such as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV). The hazard communication standard from OSHA protects the employees working in risky work environment who are exposed to hazardous chemicals. OSHA mandates that both these standards must be followed by the employers to create written documents and describe the implementation procedure of each standard, arrange for training to employees, and look after the health and safety of their workers.
Violations of the bloodborne pathogen standard puts the worker and possibly the patient at jeopardy for transmission of HIV and Hepatitis B and C. Along with these, the employee is also at danger from scalpels, needles and other surgical items. Violating the standards of bloodborne pathogen standard may result in penalties which would be a huge sum, subject to the rigorousness of the violation. In case of a worker death there are criminal penalties that would be applied to the employer’s will full violations. Employers may be exposed to civil liability if they do not require employee physicians to attend training sessions or follow the company’s exposure plan. If an employee, who is a surgeon of a hospital-owned medical group, theoretically can expose the hospital to potential fines and civil liabilities for violating the requirements of the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard if he or she does not wear appropriate eye protection during surgery, and the institution allows this behavior .
Healthcare industry workers are at greater risk of exposure to contagious diseases; and the workers are mainly concerned about possible exposure to bloodborne diseases, that transmit through contact with septic blood or body fluids. The Bloodborne Pathogen standards are required to ensure education, and train the employers by law to assure that they conduct the work safely, and protect their workers from all work-related risks, as well as from being exposed to infectious diseases. These laws are good for protection because it is the goal of the Bloodborne Pathogen Standard to establish guidelines for organizations to develop a program providing information, training and equipment to protect individuals from occupational exposures to blood or other potentially infectious materials .
As an administrator these standards can be enacted for the development of an effective safety and health management system by management leadership and involving the employees, analyzing the workplace, safety and health training, and by hazard prevention and control. The basic requirement is to identify the infectious diseases that are, or may be, in the workshop. It is recommended to buy safety-engineered medical devices, wherever required, and inform the workers about seeking medical attention. Even if it is a needle stick injury the workers must inform the employers. Workplace can be safe when the regular practices are followed that include hand hygiene and proper use of gloves, eye protection, and gowns.
References
Duffy, W. (2000, August 1). OSHA,The Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, and You. Retrieved from Infection Control Today: http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/articles/2000/08/osha-the-bloodborne-pathogens-standard-and-you.aspx
OSHA. (2003). Bloodborne Pathogens and Hazard Communications Standards. Retrieved from Occupational Safety and Health Administration: https://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3186.pdf
WPI. (2013). Protecting Yourself From Bloodborne Pathogens. Retrieved from Worchester Polytechnic Institute: http://www.wpi.edu/offices/safety/bloodborne.html
