News Release USDL: 95-404
Tuesday, October 3, 1995
Contact: Susan Hall Fleming, (202) 219-8151

The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited United Health Care System, Newark, N.J., for failing to correct previously cited violations involving worker exposure to tuberculosis and formaldehyde and for additional alleged serious hazards. OSHA proposed total penalties of $168,875.

"Clearly, even initial, first-instance OSHA penalties are not sufficient to prod some employers into protecting their workers from obvious workplace hazards," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Joseph A. Dear. "Still, some in Congress want OSHA to take on merely an advisory role, eliminating any threat of penalties for employers who correct problems once OSHA finds them.

"But crippling OSHA encourages every employer to wait until after an inspection to fix problems. In the past 25 years, we've cut the occupational fatality rate in half. Congress is sending the wrong message to America's employers."

The hospital, formerly known as United Hospitals Medical Center, has until Oct. 24 to contest the seven instances of failure to abate previously cited violations and the nine new alleged serious violations found during the follow-up inspection, which began April 17.

In its citations against United Health Care System, OSHA alleges that the hospital did not correct several hazards found in an initial inspection conducted from June 23 through Dec. 1, 1994. The hospital failed to install negative-pressure ventilation in tuberculosis isolation rooms, which potentially exposed health care workers to TB infection. Moreover, the employer did not provide proper respiratory protection to workers caring for TB patients in isolation rooms.

"OSHA is deeply concerned about the public health problems posed by tuberculosis, which is one of the most serious risks to health care workers. It saddens us to see a health care employer ignoring this risk and failing to take reasonable steps to protect employees," Dear said.

The hospital also failed to train personnel to respond properly to an emergency spill of formaldehyde. On at least two occasions employees had been exposed to the dangers of formaldehyde spills. The most recent incident resulted in the emergency treatment of five employees.

The failure-to-abate notices carry a total proposed penalty of $151,375.

OSHA also cited United Health Care system for nine alleged serious violations following its most recent inspection, including:

• Not providing negative-pressure ventilation for a tuberculosis patient recovery room;

• not providing proper training and equipment to employees designated to respond to spills of hazardous material;

• not requiring employees to wear proper respirators when entering rooms with a high risk of tuberculosis exposure;

• not requiring employees to properly fit-test their respirators;

• not preparing a written emergency respiratory protection program;

• not properly training employees about the health hazards of formaldehyde; and

• not properly guarding machinery.

The alleged serious violations carry a total proposed penalty of $17,500.

A failure-to-abate violation is a notice of an additional penalty issued against an employer who has not corrected a violation that has become a final order of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. A serious violation is defined as a condition where there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result.