Healthcare

The global COVID-19 pandemic is causing massive disruptions to businesses, with many scaling back or closing their operations entirely. Many others, including healthcare establishments, face even greater demand for their goods and services during these dangerous and uncertain times. Risks of exposure to the SARS CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 are everywhere, even our workplaces, and […]

Those of us, myself included, who are fortunate enough to not only still be working, but working from the comfort and safety of home, should remember the sacrifices made by nurses, doctors and other healthcare professions whose duty to patients puts them in harm’s way. There are already hundreds of thousands of confirmed cases of […]

The global COVID-19 pandemic is creating serious challenges for employers, not simply because of the health risks of the disease itself to workers, but also because of the social distancing and workplace changes implemented to help slow the spread of the virus. Anxiety and urgency of response related to the COVID-19 threat is understandable, but […]

In the ongoing fight against the COVID-19 outbreak, OSHA’s Respirator Fit Testing (RFT) requirements are probably the last thing on the minds of health care providers. However, proper fit of respiratory PPE is essential to protecting health care workers from exposure to COVID-19. After all, if a respirator is not fitted properly, it provides little […]

OSHA’s Recordkeeping deadline is quickly approaching. By February 1, employers in the U.S. covered by the rule are required to prepare, certify and post a signed hard copy of their Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses (Form 300A) in a location accessible to employees to view. While OSHA has made no changes to the Rule […]

The United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) estimates that more than 8 million US healthcare workers are exposed to hazardous drugs (HDs) in the workplace each year. Hazardous drugs (HDs) are a class of pharmaceuticals that pose serious health risks to individuals who handle them, including organ toxicity, reproductive and developmental defects, genetic toxicity, cancer and […]

by Phil Molé An employee at a popular chain restaurant recently died due to chemical exposures from a reaction between common, but incompatible, cleaning compounds. This incident, like many others before it, is disturbing because the chemicals used are so common, and tragic because it is avoidable. It’s an unfortunate reminder that HazCom management is […]

The U.S. health care industry employs more than 20 million individuals and I’m willing to bet that each and every one of us has a friend or family member who’s worked as a nurse, a doctor, a home health care worker, paramedic or other health care professional. For so many of us, the threat of […]

Welcome to the sixth and final installment in our “Intro to HazCom” series! If you missed our previous posts in this series or want to refresh your memory, just follow the hyperlinks to read about the basics of HazCom (Parts One and Two), the challenges of chemical container labeling (Part Three), the requirements for a […]

A spill of anhydrous ammonia in Beach Park in Lake County, Illinois on Wednesday, April 25 has resulted in the closure of several area schools and at least 32 people being hospitalized so far. As of this time, the cause of the spill is still under investigation. Area news reports indicate that the Lake County […]