OSHA Inspection: MEREDIA HURON HOSPITAL

Issued

1999-07-16 00:00:00

Abate by

1999-08-18 00:00:00

Penalty

Initial $4500.00 · Current $2700.00 Reduced

General-duty citation text

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 hazard of being infected with mycobacterium
tuberculosis (TB) through
unprotected contact with a patient who was infectious with (TB) in that:
A. On 2/8/99 in Department 4 Main, nurses, dietary workers, support
services workers and
other healthcare workers were exposed to an active TB patient. The patient
had signs indicating
he was a suspect TB patient and was not placed in a negative pressure
isolation room.
B. Dietary and support services employees were not provided with adequate
training regarding
TB health hazards.
Feasible and useful abatement methods for reducing this hazard, as
recommended by the CDC,
include, but are not limited to:
(1) EARLY IDENTIFICATION OF PATIENTS/CLIENTS:
(a) A protocol for determining suspect patients and requiring such
patients to be placed
immediately into isolation, shall be developed.
(2) ENGINEERING CONTROLS:
(a) Patients in high risk categories and those with suspected and
confirmed TB disease must be
placed in AFB isolation rooms.
(b) The isolation rooms shall be kept under negative pressure. The CDC
guidelines, dated
10/28/94 recommend daily negative pressure checks when the room is being
used for TB
isolation.
(3) MEDICAL SURVEILLANCE:
(a) TB skin testing shall be conducted every three(3) months for workers
in
high risk categories,
every six(6) months for workers in intermediate risk categories and
annually for low risk
personnel.
NOTE: A risk assessment shall be conducted for groups of Health Care
Workers throughout
the facility.(As per CDC guidelines Appendix-A page A-18)
(4) WORKER TRAINING AND EDUCATION:
(a) All Health Care Workers shall be trained to recognize, and report to a
designated person,
any patients or clients with symptoms suggestive of infectious TB and
instructed on the post
exposure protocol to be followed in the event of an exposure incident.

Issued

1999-07-16 00:00:00

Abate by

1999-10-18 00:00:00

Penalty

Initial $4500.00 · Current $2700.00 Reduced