Items Tagged with 'Health care worker safety'

Research Triangle Park, NC – Outbreaks of viruses such as Ebola and Zika have prompted the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences – together with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, OSHA, and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response – to launch an infectious disease safety training program for first responders and hazardous waste workers.

Washington – NIOSH and OSHA have teamed up to offer free online training intended to help home health care workers identify hazards, report safety issues and mitigate risks.

Chicago – The American Medical Association is calling on OSHA to require health care employers to implement programs intended to prevent workplace violence.

Sacramento, CA – Lawmakers in the California Assembly on May 19 approved a bill intended to improve protections for health care workers and patients exposed to toxic fumes in surgical settings.

Silver Spring, MD – The American Nurses Association is calling on nurses to “help make their workplaces safer to enhance patient care and nurses’ health and well-being” during National Nurses Week.

Washington – Congressional Democrats are urging OSHA to pursue a rule on preventing workplace violence in the health care industry, following the publication of a Government Accountability Office report that concludes the agency could do more to help keep health care workers safe on the job.

Boston – Hospitals and other health care facilities in Massachusetts would be required to develop and implement workplace violence prevention programs to protect their workers as part of legislation advancing through the state House and Senate.

Washington – The Food and Drug Administration has proposed banning powdered surgical gloves, powdered patient examination gloves and absorbable powder for lubricating surgical gloves in an effort to protect health care workers and patients from potentially fatal allergic reactions and other health problems.

Pittsburgh – Some N95 respirators are resistant to fluid penetration, potentially increasing the amount of respirator options that could protect health care workers from occupational exposures during emergencies such as influenza outbreaks, according to a study from NIOSH.

London – In an effort to help protect health care workers who work with patients carrying the Zika virus, the journal BMJ has released a set of free online resources.