"Healthcare workers (HCWs) are occupationally exposed to a variety of infectious diseases during the performance of their duties. The delivery of healthcare services requires a broad range of workers, such as physicians, nurses, technicians, clinical laboratory workers, first responders, and more. Moreover, these workers can be found in a variety of workplace settings, including hospitals, ambulatory care centers, and emergency response settings. The diversity among HCWs and their workplaces makes occupational exposure to infectious diseases especially challenging". OSHA.
NAD PINWHEEL Inc. acknowledges these delicate conditions for healthcare workers and their patients, and carefully follows all OSHA guidelines pertaining to bloodborne pathogens and particularly their standards for indirect contact transmission prevention.
"The primary routes of infectious disease transmission in U.S. healthcare settings are contact, droplet, and airborne. Contact transmission can be sub-divided into direct and indirect contact. Direct contact transmission involves the transfer of infectious agents to a susceptible individual through physical contact with an infected individual (e.g., direct skin-to-skin contact). Indirect contact transmission occurs when infectious agents are transferred to a susceptible individual when the individual makes physical contact with contaminated items and surfaces (e.g., doorknobs, patient-care instruments or equipment, bed rails, examination table)." OSHA.
"Several OSHA standards and directives are directly applicable to protecting workers against transmission of infectious agents. These include OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogens standard (29 CFR 1910.1030) which provides protection of workers from exposures to blood and body fluids that may contain bloodborne infectious agents; OSHA's Personal Protective Equipment standard (29 CFR 1910.132) and Respiratory Protection standard (29 CFR 1910.134) which provide protection for workers when exposed to contact, droplet, and airborne transmissible infectious agents; and OSHA's TB compliance directive which protects workers against exposure to TB through enforcement of existing applicable OSHA standards and the General Duty Clause of the OSH Act." OSHA.
NAD PINWHEEL INC. Respectfully shares this article from OSHA to provide our visitors with information regarding OSHA guidelines and standards. For more information regarding CDC Guidelines and OSHA Standards, please visit OSHA Official website www.osha.gov