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THINKING OF BUYING ...
LETTER OF THE LAW
Federal Requirements for Sharps Safety
O
SHA's Bloodborne Pathogens
STAY INFORMED OSHA wants you to stay
abreast of new sharps safety products.
Standard
(tinyurl.com/4f8mcwb), which
includes the Needlestick Safety and
Prevention Act, requires surgical facilities to develop and annually update a
written blood-and-body-fluid exposure control plan. One component of
this plan is prevention: It should "reflect changes in technology that eliminate or reduce exposure to bloodborne pathogens; and … [d]ocument
annually consideration and implementation of appropriate commercially
available and effective safer medical devices designed to eliminate or
minimize occupational exposure."
In other words, OSHA wants administrators to stay informed with
regard to new sharps safety products, for the sake of their employees'
safety. "If an effective and clinically appropriate safety-engineered sharp
exists, an employer must evaluate and implement it," unless it doesn't
meet patient safety and medical integrity standards. Plus, this evaluation
must "solicit input from non-managerial employees responsible for direct
patient care who are potentially exposed to injuries from contaminated
sharps … and [employers] shall document the solicitation in the Exposure
Control Plan."
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— David Bernard
O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | D E C E M B E R 2012
