OSHA Inspection: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Issued

Mar 24, 2023

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.1030(c)(1)(i): The employer having employee(s) with occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens did not establish a written Exposure Control Plan designed to eliminate or minimize employee exposure.  Establishment - The employer did not have an effective bloodborne pathogen (BBP) Exposure Control Plan that eliminated or minimized employee's exposure to BBP.   The employer's established plan allowed employees to sign a waiver to use sharps without safety features.

Issued

Mar 24, 2023

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.1030(d)(2)(vii)(A): Contaminated needles and other contaminated sharps were bent, recapped, or removed.  Establishment - The employer provided needles without safety features which required employees to recap the needles and expose them to needlestick injuries.  On October 14, 2022 an employee suffered a needle stick injury while recapping and disposing of a sharp used in the blood bank. On September, 26, 2022 and employee suffered a needle stick injury recapping a reusable insulin pen.

Issued

Mar 24, 2023

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.1030(h)(5)(i)(A): The employer did not maintain a sharps injury log that contained at a minimum the type and brand of device involved in the incident.  Establishment - Employers sharps injury log did not list brand or type of device involved in recordable accidents.  a)  2/14/23:  Suture needle listed as device. b)  12/8/22: Left thumb is listed as device. c)  10/26/22:  Insulin needle is listed as device.

Issued

Mar 24, 2023

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.1030(h)(5)(i)(C):The employer did not maintain a sharps injury log that contained at a minimum an explanation of how the incident occurred.  Establishment - The employer sharps injury log did not contain sufficient information to provide an explanation of how the sharps incident occurred.  a)  2/14/23: Puncture to Left Middle Finger listed as description. b)  10/26/22:  Puncture to LT Hand listed as description. c)  10/25/22:  Puncture to LT Pinky Finger listed as description.

Issued

Mar 24, 2023

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.303(g)(1)(ii): The required working space about electric equipment rated 600 volts, nominal, or less to ground, was used for storage.  Establishment - The area immediately in front of the electrical panel in the Grounds Maintenance Garage was used to store compressed gas cylinders, welding components and leads.  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was previously cited for a violation of this occupational safety and health standard, 29 CFR1910.303(g)(1)(ii), which was contained in OSHA inspection #1548296, Notice #1, Item #3, issued on September 29, 2021, with respect to a workplace located at 800 Zorn Ave., Louisville, KY 40206, which became final order on November 8, 2021.  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was previously cited for a violation of this occupational safety and health standard, 29 CFR1910.303(g)(1)(ii), which was contained in OSHA inspection #1538879, Notice #1, Item #1, issued on August 31, 2021, with respect to a workplace located at 1114 Georgianna St, Port Angeles, WA 98362 which became final order on September 27, 2021.  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was previously cited for a violation of this occupational safety and health standard, 29 CFR1910.303(g)(1)(ii), which was contained in OSHA inspection #1299050, Notice#2, Item #4, issued on August 20, 2018, with respect to a workplace located at 5901 East 7th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90822, which became final order on September 17, 2018.

Issued

Mar 24, 2023

Abate by

Aug 7, 2023

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.1025(h)(1): All surfaces were not maintained as free as practicable of accumulations of lead:  Establishment - The employer did not ensure that the electrical shop storage room surfaces were maintained as free as practicable of lead paint chips and debris which could cause lead poisoning or other respiratory illness due to lead exposure to employees.  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was previously cited for a violation of this occupational safety and health standard, 29 CFR 1910.1025(h)(1), which was contained in OSHA inspection #1460705, Notice #2, Item #3, and issued on August 3, 2020, with respect to a workplace located at 1 VA Center, Augusta, ME 04330, which became a final order on August 27, 2020.  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was previously cited for a violation of this occupational safety and health standard, 29 CFR 1910.1025(h)(1), which was contained in OSHA inspection #1348213, Notice#1, Item #2, and issued on November 6, 2018, with respect to a workplace located at 11301 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90073, which became a final order on December 12, 2018.

Issued

Mar 24, 2023

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.1030(c)(1)(iv)(B): The review and update of the exposure control plan did not document annually consideration and implementation of appropriate commercially available and effective safer medical devices designed to eliminate or minimize occupational exposure.  Establishment - The bloodborne pathogen (BBP) written exposure control plan was not effectively reviewed annually to reflect consideration and implementation of commercially available and effective safer medical devices.  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was previously cited for a violation of this occupational safety and health standard, 29 CFR1910.1030(c)(1)(iv)(B), which was contained in OSHA inspection #1387531, Notice#1, Item #7(b), issued on September 3, 2019, with respect to a workplace located at 3701 Loop Road East, Tuscaloosa, AL 35404, which became a final order on October 1, 2019.  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was previously cited for a violation of this occupational safety and health standard, 29 CFR1910.1030(c)(1)(iv)(B), which was contained in OSHA inspection #1334922, Notice #1, Item #1(b), issued on September 28, 2018, with respect to a workplace located at 3495 Bailey Ave., Buffalo, NY 14215, which became a final order on October 25, 2018.

Issued

Mar 24, 2023

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1904.29(b)(1): The employer did not provide the required injury or illness descriptions on the Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, OSHA Form 300:  Establishment - Employer did not enter the full injury descriptions on the log of work-related injury and illnesses in the following instances:  a) A recordable injury from 1/14/23 lists "back pain" only in Column F. b) A recordable injury from 1/12/23 list "scratch on right forearm" in Column F. c) A recordable injury from 12/27/2022 lists "illness" only in Column F.  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was previously cited for a violation of this occupational safety and health standard, 29 CFR 1904.29(b)(1), which was contained in OSHA inspection #1552223, Notice#4, Item #2, and was issued on March 7, 2022, with respect to a workplace located at 10 N Greene Street, Baltimore, MD 21215, which became a final order on April 4, 2022.