OSHA updates inspection procedures for protecting workers from tuberculosis in health-care settings

by Brianna Crandall — August 5, 2015—The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently updated instructions for conducting inspections and issuing citations related to worker exposures to tuberculosis (TB) in health-care settings.

This instruction incorporates guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, Guidelines for Preventing the Transmission of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis in Health-Care Settings, 2005, which includes advice for facilities and cleaning professionals on how to effectively clean, disinfect and sterilize patient-care equipment and rooms and how to help protect patients, health-care providers and themselves from the disease.

The revised directive does not create any additional enforcement burdens for employers; it simply updates the agency’s inspection procedures with the most currently available public health guidance, explains OSHA.

This directive also covers additional workplaces regarded as health-care settings such as sites where emergency medical services are provided, and laboratories handling clinical specimens that may contain M. tuberculosis.

Other changes include: the introduction of a newer screening method for analyzing blood for M. tuberculosis; classifying health-care settings as low risk, medium risk, or potential ongoing transmission; and reducing the frequency of TB screenings for workers.

According to the CDC, nearly one-third of the world’s population is infected with TB, which kills almost 1.5 million people per year. In 2013, 9,582 TB cases were reported in the United States, and approximately 383 of those cases were among health-care workers. Multi-drug-resistant and extremely drug-resistant TB continue to pose serious threats to workers in health-care settings.

TB infection occurs when a susceptible person inhales droplets from an infected person who, for example, coughs, speaks or sneezes. It is the second most common cause of death from infectious disease in the world after HIV/AIDS.

More information on hazard recognition and solutions for reducing or eliminating the risks of contracting tuberculosis is available on OSHA’s Tuberculosis Safety and Health Topics page.