OSHA Steps Up H1N1 Information Campaign

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) H1N1 flu efforts kicked into high gear this past week with announcements, information campaigns and initiatives related to the illness.

Most likely spurred on by the fact that flu season has arrived in earnest across the country, OSHA first drew attention to its H1N1 web site that became available earlier in November.  The site, which can be found by clicking here is divided into two distinct sections.  The first is oriented towards providing workers with guidance on how to best protect themselves from becoming infected while performing their jobs, while the second is meant as a reference for employers dealing with the need to not only keep their workers safe from possible flu contagion, but also the requirement to come up with contingency plans for dealing with the possibility of major business disruptions as the result of a serious pandemic.

The OSHA site is further broken down into information targeted towards healthcare workers and that which is meant for all other types of professions.  Healthcare workers, particularly those on the front lines in emergency rooms or who work as first responders face an increased risk of developing an H1N1 infection thanks to their vastly larger exposure to those who are already ill.

To follow up its information campaign, OSHA has also put together an H1N1 compliance directive that is meant to enforce the adequate protection of those employed in a healthcare capacity.  The directive itself is quite comprehensive, and has been modeled after similar guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control.  OSHA has chosen to define any workers who find themselves within 6 feet of confirmed or merely suspected swine flu patients as “high risk”, while those who actually find themselves exposed to coughing patients or those who must perform invasive procedures on the infected have been labeled “very high risk.”

At its core, the directive is meant to provide a means for OSHA to provide inspections of healthcare facilities in order to determine whether workers are being adequately protected from H1N1.  Acceptable forms of protection include disposable and reusable respirators that have been properly fitted, as well as demonstrable controls to limit the exposure of employees to possible swine flu patients.  OSHA also encourages aggressive vaccination policies in order to better safeguard all of those reacting to the potential pandemic.  Inspectors will themselves be instructed to navigate all medical facilities in the least intrusive manner possible so as not to interrupt or negatively impact the quality of care being provided to those who have been admitted.

Not all facilities have the ability to outfit their entire staff with respirators on short notice, and OSHA is fully cognizant of the fact that certain protective items might be in short supply in certain areas.  In cases where OSHA has judged that employers have acted in good faith and made an attempt to procure respiratory protection, no disciplinary action will be taken.