OSHA

Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)

About OSHA

OSHA's mission is to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health.

About Our Alliance

An agreement between AOHP and OSHA was signed February 19, 2004 and renewed on August 27, 2006. AOHP's alliance with OSHA provides the association’s members and others with health and safety information, regulations, guidance, and access to training resources to help them protect employees’ health and safety. The organizations work together to reduce and prevent exposure to patient-handling hazards, blood borne diseases and emergency preparedness in healthcare facilities.

The chief outcome of the alliance between AOHP and OSHA to date is the creation of a resource guide for safe patient handling practice in hospitals called “Beyond Getting Started.” Among other information, “Beyond Getting Started” includes a table that lists specific hospital departments and the kinds of lifting equipment or patient handling equipment that may be needed.

Other elements of the AOHP-OSHA alliance include quarterly conference calls, OSHA staff as speakers and vendors at the AOHP national meetings and having an AOHP member attend an OSHA inspector training session. AOHP also provides education as appropriate for OSHA inspectors.

Alliance Announces a Tool to Make N95 Fit Testing Easier

OSHA’s guidance on Pandemic Flu

Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Guidance for Healthcare Workers and Healthcare Employers

New OSHA Directive (CPL-02-02-075)
According to the new OSHA Directive (CPL-02-02-075) released November 20, 2009, "Compliance Safety and Health Officers (CSHOs) shall investigate OSHA 300 logs entries for confirmed cases of work-related 2009 H1N1 influenza transmission."

Download OSHA Directive - CPL-02-02-075

Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Guidance for Healthcare Workers and Healthcare Employers

Our Alliance with OSHA

Association of Occupational Health Professionals in
Healthcare (AOHP) signed February 19, 2004.

OSHA’s Alliance with the AOHP will provide the association’s members and others with information, guidance, and access to training resources to help them protect employees’ health and safety. The organizations will work to reduce and prevent exposure to patient-handling hazards, bloodborne diseases and bioterrorism in healthcare facilities. The goals of the Alliance include:

Training and education
Develop workplace safety and health curricula for training and education programs on patient handling and bloodborne pathogens for healthcare institutions and workers.

Outreach and communication:

Speak, exhibit, or appear at conferences such as AOHP's national and chapter events.
Cross-train OSHA personnel and industry safety and health professionals in AOHP's best practices or effective approaches, as jointly determined by OSHA and AOHP.
Work with other Alliance participants on specific issues and projects related to the healthcare setting that are addressed and developed through the Alliance Program.
OSHA/AOHP Alliance Press Release click here to read more.

Find out more about the AOHP/OSHA Alliance

Milestones and Successes
Association of Occupational Health Professionals Alliance Milestones and Successes (2005, March).

Products and Resources

OSHA Hospital eTool now features a new Sonography module and an updated Surgical module.

The Sonography module provides guidance for how sonographers (medical professionals who operate ultrasound imaging devices to produce diagnostic images) can reduce their risk of musculoskeletal disorders. OSHA developed the Sonography module with input from the following Alliance Program participants: Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Association of Occupational Health Professionals(AOHP), and American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN).

The updated Surgical module includes new information on laser safety, bloodborne pathogens, waste anesthetic gases, and other topics. OSHA developed the updates to the Surgical module with input from the following Alliance Program participants: American Biological Safety Association, Association of perioperative Registered Nurses, AOHP, AAOHN, Joint Commission and Joint Commission Resources, and Laser Institute of America.

OSHA Safety and Health Topics Pages

Bloodborne Pathogens and Needlestick Prevention

OSHA eTools

Hospital

Activities and Events

Request for Alliance Program Participants' Support of 2009 Drug-Free Work Week, October 19-25

As part of our efforts to keep Alliance Program participants informed, we wanted to remind you that OSHA continues to work with the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Working Partners for an Alcohol- and Drug-Free Workplace Program to raise awareness of Drug-Free Work Week. Now in its fourth year, Drug-Free Work Week 2009 will be held October 19-25 and provides an opportunity to reinforce the importance of being drug-free as an essential component of a safe and healthful workplace. The annual Drug-Free Work Week is a public awareness campaign that highlights the fact that being drug free is key to protecting workplace safety and health and encourages workers with alcohol and drug problems to seek help.

We encourage all OSHA Alliance program participants to take part in Drug-Free Work Week and help spread the word among your members and other constituents that “working drug free works.” Ways to do so include:

· Feature Drug-Free Work Week in your publications. DOL’s Working Partners program offers both short and long “drop-in” articles that can be quickly tailored by inserting your organization’s name. For organizations with printed publications, camera-ready print Public Service Announcements (PSAs) also are available. Choose either ½ page (black & white or color) or ¼ page (black & white or color) based on space available.

· Post a Drug-Free Work Week link on your Web site. A Drug-Free Work Week 2009 logo is available for this purpose.

· Distribute educational materials to your members – “Working Drug Free Works” posters and a variety of other educational materials, including a fact sheet for supervisors and pocket card for employees, can be ordered or downloaded and reproduced as needed to provide to members. A series of “Tool Box Talks” intended for delivery on construction and other worksites also is available.

· Send a “President’s Message” about Drug-Free Work Week – Associations might use the occasion to send a special e-mail to members encouraging them to participate. Alternatively (or in addition), Drug-Free Work Week can be incorporated into upcoming speeches or the President’s column in your association’s publication using the Drug-Free Work Week talking points.

Of course, as employers, you are highly encouraged to recognize Drug-Free Work Week among your staff. DOL’s Working Partners Web site provides a list of ideas for how to do so as well as resources to help promote Drug-Free Work Week’s positive messages—every week of the year.

Should your organization wish to support Drug-Free Work Week 2009, please let Sandra Khan know (khan.sandra@dol.gov) by August 28, 2009.

As part of our efforts to keep Alliance Program participants informed of new OSHA compliance assistance resources and outreach initiatives, I wanted to remind you that OSHA and the American Society for Safety Engineers (ASSE) will host a kick-off event for the 2009 North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week on May 4, 2009, from 10:00 - 11:30 am at the Department of Labor (DOL). The goal of NAOSH Week, May 3–9, 2009, is to raise awareness of the role and contribution of safety, health and environmental professionals; and reduce workplace injuries and illness by encouraging new safety and health activities at all companies and organizations. NAOSH Week, an annual international outreach event, is sponsored by ASSE and the Canadian Society for Safety Engineering.

Through the Alliance Program, more than 50 Alliance Program participants, including the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, the Independent Electrical Contractors, Laser Institute of America, and the National Safety Council, are supporting the Week. The theme for 2009 NAOSH Week is "Safety Means Always Coming Home." OSHA will also host a meeting for the Alliance Program participants after the kick-off event from 1:00 - 4:00 pm at DOL. The afternoon will feature presentations on getting the most out of the OSHA Web site, OSHA Top 10 violations and compliance assistance resources, and an OSHA program update. While many of you may not be able to attend this event because of geography, please extend the invitation to your members who are in the DC area who would be interested in attending. Please let Todd Briggs (briggs.todd@dol.gov) know by April 17, 2009 if you or your members plan to participate in the 2009 NAOSH Week-related events.

The attached flier provides information about NAOSH Week and how organizations can support it. We are requesting your assistance as an information conduit to help make people aware of NAOSH week and how they can promote it. Please share the flier with your staff and contacts and to help us spread the word about 2009 NAOSH Week.

Thank you for your support of NAOSH Week and the Alliance Program.

NAOSH Week Promotional Flyer
NAOSH Week Kick-Off Agenda
LIA-OSHA Course Information

NAOSH 2010
North American Occupational Safety & Health (NAOSH) Week takes place May 2 - 8, 2010. Occupational Safety & Health Professional's Day is May 6, 2009.

What is NAOSH Week? & What You Can Do
ASSE Comments on BLS' Preliminary Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries of 5,488 for 2007 (doc)
BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Report for 2007 (doc)
ASSE Press Release: Making Sure Workers Come Home Safety Focus of Annual North American Occupational Safety and Health Week this May

Latest Update on Alliance Activities - OSHA Alliance Update-June 2005

There have been two conference call implementation team meetings – one on March 28 and the other on May 24. During the March conference call, Dr. Bob Curtis from OSHA explained the differences between the Safety and Health Topic pages and eTools.

The Safety and Health Topic pages serve a resource for items of interest for a specific topic. An example would be Bloodborne Pathogens. ETools are developed as training tools. For example the Hospital eTool is designed by departments and also includes a section on Health Care Wide Hazards. Visit the OSHA website at www.osha.gov to review these resources.

To begin to address safe patient handling in the acute care setting, the AOHP team wanted to evaluate patient mobility assessment tools. The assessment tool used by Dr. Audrey Nelson was the tool that the team reviewed. Members felt that this was a tool that could be utilized in the acute care setting. During our call in May we learned of some other tools and want to review those before making a final decision. The implementation team welcomes any additional input from members if there are assessment tools that are being used.

This spring, Jan Frustaglia, Region 2 Director and Carolyn (Kirkpatrick) Amrich, AOHP member and supervisor of Employee Health at Children’s Medical Center, Dallas, Texas were invited to make a presentation on safe patient handling and bloodborne pathogens to approximately 50 Region VI OSHA consultants. This was the first time that AOHP had the opportunity to be a part of training for OSHA.

OSHA is also seeking examples of success stories in healthcare facilities. These can be related to patient handling or reduction in sharps injuries. Please forward these to MaryAnn Gruden.As AOHP chapters plan meetings, keep in mind that OSHA will provide speakers. Contact the OSHA office closest to the chapter to secure speakers. Visit the OSHA website identified above to locate the OSHA office nearest the chapter.

AOHP has also been asked to review a guide that is being developed related to hospital-based first receivers. AOHP provided input into the draft guidelines last year. Once it is drafted AOHP will have the opportunity to review it.OSHA will be at our national conference in San Antonio in October and we are looking forward to having them again be a part of our national meeting. Our next implementation conference call is scheduled for mid-September.

Please feel free to share any recommendations for Safety and Health Topic pages as well as any other thoughts regarding the OSHA Alliance with me by email at magaohp@yahoo.com or call 412/578-6792. I will look forward to hearing from you.

Beyond Getting Started:

A Resource Guide for Implementing a Safe Patient Handling Program in the Acute Care Setting

Developed by the AOHP OSHA Alliance Implementation Team
Summer 2006

Click here to download Beyond Getting Started Resource Guide
Click here to download the reference and samples

OSHA Alliance Report April 2006

Our work continues with the OSHA Alliance in 2006. Our quarterly conference call was held in January and the renewal of the Alliance was discussed. The resource guide for safe patient handling in the acute care setting is being finalized and should be ready soon. We will notify members when it is ready.

AOHP Participates in Annual Review of Safety and Health Topics Page
As part of the Alliance, OSHA seeks the input of Editorial Board members on several Safety and Health Topic pages that are related to healthcare. A review of the Bloodborne Pathogens and Needlestick Prevention page was conducted during February and March. To visit the updated page, go to the web at http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/bloodbornepathogens/.