Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: BLOODBORNE

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer had not furnished employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that the medical management practice of delaying and/or not assuring employee access to appropriate medical evaluation and care caused employee exposure to a splash of body fluids from nonhuman primates to go untreated. Exposure can result in diseases, such as Conjunctivitis, Hepatitis, and Herpes B virus. The most important of these being Herpes B virus which is usually lethal. While ultimate responsibility for correcting the hazard rests with the employer given his superior knowledge of the operation, feasible and acceptable abatement methods to correct this hazard may include, but are not limited to: 1)Design and conduct a baseline survey to determine employee awareness of their exposure risks and routes of exposure to Herpes B virus and other known diseases carried by nonhuman primates. Repeat this survey annually to detect any significant changes in employee awareness levels. 2)Review, on a quarterly basis, the incident logs and employee medical records to monitor trends in the facility. 3)Develop a medical management protocol to address the injuries/illnesses related to working with nonhuman primates. Include in the protocol procedures for reporting exposure incidents. Inform employees of this protocol at least annually. 4)Clarify reporting procedures on any and all employees with exposure incidents with prompt medical care and follow-up. The nurse and other licensed health care professionals who received the initial report of exposure should work directly under the guidance of a physician with knowledge of the diseases carried by nonhuman primates. Any reports obtained by the nurse should be appropriately filed in employee medical records. 5)Hire a properly trained consultant to assess the employer's current programs addressing all activities which involve employee exposure to nonhuman primates. The consultant should perform a systematic review of these existing programs and any new programs developed, recommend engineering, work practice and administrative controls to reduce or eliminate employee exposures and evaluate the effectiveness of any controls implemented.