OSHA Inspection: CENTRO MEDICO DEL TURABO DBA HIMA SAN PABLO

Issued

Mar 25, 2003

Abate by

Apr 18, 2003

Penalty

Initial $2,125 · Current $1,063 Reduced

General-duty citation text

Section 6(a) of the Puerto Rico Occupational Safety and Health Act:  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 physical harm to employees in
that employees were
exposed to:
Seccion 6(a) de la Ley de Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo de Puerto Rico:
El patrono no
proveyo empleo y un sitio de empleo libre de riesgos reconocidos que esten
causando o que
puedan causar muerte o dano fisico a los empleados, por cuanto empleados
estaban expuestos
a:
Employees of the Nursery section and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit were
afected to their
health at date of October 3, 2002 when being exposed to gases that enter
their sections through
the air conditioning system that were produced when a coil cleaning was
made of the machine
ERU-201 of the air conditioning system that served those areas.
Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable abatement method to
correct this hazard is
to establish a written procedure to perform the tasks of maintenance of
the air conditioning
systems establishing steps to be followed when realizing them that
includes procedures to make
dilusions of substances to be used, how to flush the areas, verifying the
area after doing the task
and any other step that seems necesary to prevente the repetition of the
incident.  It should
include in the procedures of steps to be followed, the warn the employees
of the areas that could
be afected so they can be alert of any condition out the normal that could
arise.
Empleados de la seccion de Recien Nacidos y de la Unidad de Cuidado
Intensivo Neonatal
fueron afectados a su salud el, 3 de octubre de 2002, al exponerse a gases
que entraron a sus
secciones a traves del sistema de aire acondicionado que se produjeron al
hacerse una limpieza
del "coil" de la maquina ERU-201 del sistema acondicionador de aire que
servia
esas areas.
Entre otros metodos, un metodo factible y aceptable para corregir este
riesgo es el establecer
un procedimiento por escrito para realizar las labores de mantenimiento de
los sistemas
acondicionadores de aire donde se establezcan todos los pasos a seguir al
realizar el mismo que
incluya procedimientos para hacer diluciones de subtancias a usar, como
enjuagar las areas,
verificacion del area luego de hacer la labor y cualquier otro paso que se
estime necesario para
evitar la recurrencia del incidente.  Se debe incluir en el procedimiento
de pasos a seguir, el dar
aviso a los empleados de las areas que puedan ser afectadas para que esten
vigilantes de
cualquier condicion fuera de lo normal que pueda surgir.

Issued

Mar 25, 2003

Abate by

Oct 4, 2002

Penalty

Initial $1,083 · Current $542 Reduced

Issued

Mar 25, 2003

Abate by

Oct 4, 2002