Hospital Employee Health – January 1, 2010
January 1, 2010
View Archives Issues
-
Risky business? Corporate sector gets H1N1 pandemic vaccine before hospitals
When this pandemic influenza season eases and there is time to ponder lessons learned, here's one question on the top of the list: Why did some corporations, such as Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, obtain vaccine before hospitals? -
No N95? Consider elastomerics, OSHA says
You might receive a citation from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration if you fail to assess respiratory hazards related to 2009 H1N1, don't use various methods to reduce employee exposure or fail to consider respirators other than N95s when there is a shortage. -
EEOC: Pandemic rules based on 'direct threat'
By law, how far can you go in screening employees or altering leave policies during a pandemic? The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), privacy and state leave laws still apply, limiting what employers can do, advises Nina Massen, JD, senior associate with the disability, leave and health management practice group of Jackson Lewis LLP in White Plains, NY. -
OSHA offers H1N1 guidance to employers, HCWs
Don't come to work sick. Perform hand hygiene after all patient contacts or after shaking someone's hand. Report any flu-like symptoms. -
NIOSH: N95s must fit most faces
Finally, there's some relief in sight from the frustrations of fit-testing N95 respirators. Manufacturers will be required to make respirators that fit most people well under a rule proposed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. -
ICPs to Obama: Stop OSHA enforcement of N95s
Three infection control organizations the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology have written President Barack Obama, requesting an immediate moratorium on OSHA enforcement of the use of N95 respirators in relation to novel H1N1. -
GAO: Pressure on occ health to underreport
One-third of occupational health practitioners have faced pressure from employers or workers to undertreat and underreport work-related injuries, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), an investigative arm of Congress. -
Why flooring should be on occ-health agenda
Floor covering and floor cleaners may seem like subjects for a facilities manager and not occupational health professionals. But flooring is a critical aspect of one of the most common injuries in hospitals. -
Avoid contaminating N95 respirator while in use
With federal officials requiring the use of N95 respirators for H1N1 pandemic influenza A patients, an emergency services nurse provides a clinical tip to properly use the masks without contaminating them. -
2009 Salary Survey Report: There's no time like now to prove your worth
No one can escape the reverberations of this economic downturn. Yet while employee health professionals weather the realities of trying to do more with less, they also are more vital than ever to their hospital's operations.