Text For Citation: 03 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: BLOODBORNE

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer did not furnish 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 employees were exposed to the following conditions which increase the risk of employees employees contracting blood-borne diseases: An HBV vaccination program was not made available to the following employees: a) Home Care and Hospice Program nurses whose work duties included wound treatment and dressing, drawing blood samples, set up of IV's, direct injection of medications and immunizations, and cleanup and disposal of patient vomitus and excreta. b) A chemotherapy nurse whose work duties included drawing blood samples, set up of IV administration of cytotoxic drugs and cleanup and disposal of patient vomitus and excreta. c) An industrial nurse whose work duties included a large scale immunization of plant employees. In accordance with recommended practices from the CDC's guidelines for protection from blood-borne diseases, feasible methods of abatement include, but are not limited to: 1) A reevaluation of exposure potential based on job duties leading to exposure to infectious materials as a universal precaution rather than according to the patient group. Employees requiring inclusion in an HBV vaccination program shall include but not be limits to those employees listed in the instance descriptions. 2) Make available Hepatitis B (HBV) vaccinations to all potentially exposed employees (e.g., instances listed). 3) Initiate a complete medical surveillance program to allow early identification of HBV infection in non-immunized personnel, track immunization status and provide booster HBV vaccinations as necessary.