Articles Tagged with ''infectious disease''

Recent research performed at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL), with support from Nelson Laboratories, suggests that some isolation gowns do not meet the performance standards established by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI).

OSHA has updated instructions for conducting inspections and issuing citations related to worker exposures to tuberculosis in healthcare settings. This instruction incorporates guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, "Guidelines for Preventing the Transmission of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis in Health-Care Settings, 2005*."

A new toolkit released jointly by OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety is aimed at helping health care industry employers protect hospital staff from respiratory hazards on the job.

The CDC’s Rapid Isolation and Treatment of Ebola (RITE) strategy is helping to end the Ebola epidemic in Liberia, according to new data reported in this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

Exposure to people infected with the Ebola virus isn’t the only danger related to the disease. Waste contaminated with the virus – such as medical and laboratory items -- can pose a serious hazard to workers who are tasked with handling, transporting and treating it.

On October 2, 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued guidelines to airlines on stopping ill travelers from boarding, managing and reporting onboard sick travelers, protecting crew and passengers from infection, and cleaning the plane and disinfecting contaminated areas.

OSHA has launched a new Ebola Web page that provides guidance for protecting workers from exposure to the Ebola virus, which causes Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever (EHF).

The prevalence of infectious diseases, such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV, SARS and avian flu, have raised the concern of hospital personnel over the possibility of acquiring such infections. Healthcare workers (HCWs) in or outside hospitals who have contact with patients, body fluids, or specimens may easily acquire infections from or transmit infections to patients, other personnel, or loved ones.

Workers at a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in Oregon were potentially exposed to infectious diseases and sharps injuries, according to OSHA inspections conducted at the facility in April as part of a Local Emphasis Program. The agency has issued a notice of unsafe and unhealthful working conditions for 17 violations found at the VA's White City Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center and Clinics facility.