OSHAlert Blog from Quality America
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OSHA Policy on Frequency of Cleaning?
A: Is there an OSHA policy dictating how many times a cleaning crew needs to clean a physicians office per week? Can you advise as to the difference between an office that only does consultations vs one that does procedures such as OB-GYN or GI?
Thank you for asking our team of experts at Quality America about OSHA's requirements for cleaning medical offices.
OSHA doesn't stipulate how often medical practices need to be cleaned by outside crews, only that when an area is contaminated with patient blood or body fluids it must be immediately decontaminated. When medical practices perform procedures that generate body fluids, such as is the case with OBGYN and GI specialties, then any visibly contaminated areas are cleaned immediately by staff. OSHA also requires a written housekeeping schedule as part of the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, where you stipulate the frequency with which you routinely decontaminate clinical areas. Whether or not this is done by staff or by an outside cleaning crew is your decision.
Some medical practices stipulate that outside cleaning crews will not handle biohazardous waste (red bags and sharps containers). Others stipulate that the cleaning company will handle biohazardous waste as part of their contractual arrangements. If the latter is the case, your practice is responsible to obtain written verification that the cleaning company has trained their employees on the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard and has given them the hepatitis B vaccine.
If a medical office only does consultations, such as psychiatric practices and some surgical specialties, employees cannot be "reasonably anticipated" to be exposed to patient blood or body fluids and OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogens regulation doesn't even apply.
Posted by Quality America on May 9, 2008 in Bloodborne Pathogens | Comments (0)
Who Can Give Shots?
Q: Who can legally give shots in a medical private office located in Texas?
A: OSHA is the federal agency responsible for worker safety, as such they do not make mandates for patient safety or authorize who may provide care. We recommended contacting your state licensure board for advice.
Try here to start.
Posted by Quality America on April 30, 2008 in Vaccinations | Comments (0)
Gloves for Urine Dipsticks?
Q: This question is concerning urine dipsticks. A non-clinical person observed one of the clinical staff doing a urine dipstick without gloves on. I realize that urine without visible blood is NOT considered regulated waste...however to my way of thinking wearing gloves should be the way to go whenever manipulating a specimen. Any documentation to back me up here? If you could find any references I would appreciate it.
A: According to OSHA, staff need only wear gloves when working with blood and "Other Potentially Infectious Materials" or OPIM for short. Urine is not an OPIM unless it's visibly bloody.
With that said, your organization can set up its own infection control standards that exceed the federal OSHA regulations. In fact, most hospitals abide by the concept of "standard precautions" (versus universal precautions, which OSHA mandates) whereby employees are instructed to treat all patient body fluids as if they were potentially infectious. Standard precautions are only recommendations from the CDC, though, and are not binding by law.
My advice in your situation, since I agree that employees should wear gloves when working with any lab specimen, is to stipulate in your OSHA Manual (see page 5-31) that gloves will be worn when working with any lab specimen, including urine. Then, use your typical means to communicate this to staff (email, memo, etc.) and also note this in your OSHA Manual on the Review Form (page 2-14 and Master Record Forms Tab).
I hope this helps! Feel free to contact us again if this opens a can 'o worms or if you need any more feedback.
Posted by Quality America on April 24, 2008 in Bloodborne Pathogens | Comments (0)
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