Source: OHSonline.com February 18, 2012

A federal law enacted to protect health care workers from being stuck by needles has reduced the number of such injuries, decreasing the possibility for exposure to bloodborne diseases, according to research conducted by the University of Virginia School of Medicine.  The Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act (NSPA) requires employers to provide safety-engineered devices to employees who are at risk for exposure to bloodborne pathogens and to let frontline workers have a say in selecting these devices.

NSPA also mandated revisions to OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard, requiring employers to provide safer devices for at-risk employees, review exposure-control plans annually, and maintain logs of all injuries by sharp items. It also gave frontline workers a greater role in selecting appropriate safety devices.  To determine whether the NSPA has had an effect on the rate of needlestick injuries among hospital employees, researchers used a multihospital sharps-injury database maintained by the International Healthcare Worker Safety Center at the University of Virginia. Since 1993, a group of U.S. hospitals voluntarily contributed sharps-injury surveillance data.

Researchers selected the period from 1995 through 2005, which included 23,908 injuries that occurred in 85 hospitals in 10 states. They then calculated the annual rates of injuries per 100 full-time hospital employees, as reported by the American Hospital Association.

There was a trend toward increasing rates of injuries before the legislation was enacted, which was followed by a drop of about 38 percent in 2001 when the NSPA took effect. Subsequent injury rates through 2005 remained well below pre-NSPA rates, according to the study.  While the researchers noted that other factors might have contributed to the decrease, UVA’s Elayne Kornblatt Phillips, BSN, MPH, Ph.D., called the effect of the NSPA “very significant.”  “Health care workers are precious resources in this country and around the world,” Phillips said. “We keep reading in the news about the shortage of health care workers, especially nurses and physicians, and those are the two groups that are most often injured by sharp devices.”

The findings appear in a letter in the Feb. 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Phillips noted that the UVA findings underscore the importance of legislation that is well-crafted and well-enforced. “Even though there were OSHA regulations that intended to do the same thing, and devices on the market to do the same thing, we really didn’t see [the decrease] until the legislation was passed,” she said.

See entire article here.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has posted a series of 17 videos to help workers learn about the proper use of respirators on the job.

These short videos, nine in English and eight in Spanish, provide valuable information to workers in general industry and construction.  Topics include OSHA’s Respiratory Standard, respirator use, training, fit-testing and detecting counterfeit respirators.  The videos are available with closed captioning for streaming or download from OSHA’s Web site.

OSHA’s Safety and Health topics page on Respiratory Protection also includes additional training materials, information about occupational respiratory hazards in different industries, and details of OSHA’s Respiratory Protection Standard (29 CFR 1910.134 and 29 CFR 1926.103).

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees.  OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance.  For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

By Neal O’Briant, Public Information Officer, NC DOL

Employers are reminded that they must post a summary of work-related injuries and illnesses that occurred in 2011. The N.C. Department of Labor requires the summary be posted from Feb. 1 through April 30.  Most employers must keep a Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses (Form 300) that records work-related fatalities, injuries and illnesses.  The Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses (Form 300A) is compiled from the data on the log.  Companies without any injuries and illnesses should post the summary with zeroes on the total lines. 

A company executive must certify that they have examined the OSHA 300 Log and that
they reasonably believe that the annual summary is correct and complete.
“This posting requirement is an important way employers keep their employees informed about safety and health conditions in the workplace,” said Wanda Lagoe, Bureau Chief of the Education, Training and Technical Assistance Bureau.

Companies that had 10 or fewer employees at all times during the previous calendar year are exempt from keeping injury and illness logs and posting summaries.  Certain businesses classified in a specific low-hazard retail, service, finance, insurance or real estate industry are also exempt from keeping injury and illness logs and posting summaries unless requested to do so for survey purposes.

For more information about recording criteria or for a list of exempt industries, contact the Education, Training and Technical Assistance Bureau at 1-800-625-2267 or locally at 919-807-2875.  Workplace Applications software can generate the OSHA 300, OSHA 300A or OSHA 301, or you can visit www.nclabor.com for more details.

If you are not located in NC, please check your own state for posting requirements.