Subject: Broader Rules Protect Health-Care Workers From Infections 
Date: Published: 12/3/91 (68 lines)
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    Technology & Medicine:
    OSHA Sets Broader Rules to Protect
    Health-Care Workers From Infections
    ----
    By Jeanne Saddler
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    WASHINGTON -- The Labor Department issued detailed rules
 requiring employers to protect health-care workers from
 infection with the AIDS virus and other bloodborne diseases
 by requiring that they use protective clothing and
 procedures.
    The new standard issued by the department's Occupational
 Safety and Health Administration requires that hospitals and
 other employers offer hepatitis B vaccinations to all
 employees exposed to blood and other bodily fluids.  Employers
 also must provide medical counseling and follow-up care after
 any exposure to such fluids.
    Although the use of rubber gloves and other protective
 clothing is common in health-care facilities, the new rules
 are broader and more detailed.  Violating the OSHA guidelines
 could result in fines of as much as $70,000 per incident.
    Since 1987, the government has urged hospitals and other
 employers to use precautions established by the Department of
 Health and Human Service's Centers for Disease Control that
 cover many of the same practices set out in the OSHA rules.
    The new rules will affect about five million workers and
 cost hospitals and other employers about $821 million
 annually, OSHA officials said.  Personal protective equipment
 alone will cost about $334 million annually.  A wide variety
 of workers are covered by the rule, including those employed
 by funeral homes and linen services, as well as law
 enforcement officials.
    Gerard Scannell, assistant secretary of labor for OSHA,
 said although the virus that causes AIDS is rarely
 transmitted in the workplace, "it's vital that we protect
 workers who put their lives on the line" to care for others.
 The new rules are expected to prevent more than 200 deaths
 and 9,200 blood-borne infections each year, OSHA officials
 said.  Roughly 6,000 to 7,000 cases of infection with the
 hepatitis B virus result each year from occupational
 exposures, they added.
    The new rules represent a fine-tuning of the earlier CDC
 standards, said Donald Savelson, an employment lawyer based
 in New York.  The OSHA standard, for example, calls for
 "engineering controls," such as puncture-resistant containers
 for used needles.
    The agency also will require specific housekeeping
 procedures, including a written schedule for general
 cleaning, and for the discarding of contaminated sharp
 instruments and regulated wastes.  Employers will have to use
 warning labels and train workers about the risks of
 contamination.
    In addition, OSHA will release a series of fact sheets
 over the next several months focusing on specific
 requirements of the guidelines.  The agency also will issue
 booklets targeted at acute-care facilities, dental offices,
 and emergency-care personnel and long-term care facilities.
    The rules will take effect 90 days after being published
 in the Federal Register.

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