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What are medical and dental offices required to do? OSHA's Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) requires employers to provide COVID-19 training to employees and ensure a safe and healthful work environment in accordance with the provisions identified in the ETS. Fortunately, most medical and dental facilities will only have to comply with the provisions listed below and not have to adopt the mini respiratory standard required by the ETS when employees are providing care for suspected or known COVID-19 patients.  Healthcare and Dental Facilities. The ETS is limited to healthcare because data shows that there is a substantial risk to employee health while caring for individuals with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19. Non-healthcare settings don't...

After weeks of delays, the President's executive order to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is finally coming to fruition. The order requires OSHA to establish workplace safety rules to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. "OSHA has been working diligently on its proposal and has taken the appropriate time to work with its science-agency partners, economic agencies, and others in the U.S. government to get this proposed emergency standard right,"  - OSHA representative The most recent delays were caused by Labor Secretary Marty Walsh requesting an additional review of the rules "based on CDC analysis and the latest information regarding the state of...

 On September 16th OSHA released a statement that they had cited a Massachusetts based dental practice for an inadequate respiratory protection program related to the current coronavirus pandemic and other shortcomings. In total, OSHA cited six serious and one other-than-serious violations for a penalty of $9,500. The dental office has since corrected the violations and paid the fine in full. Specifically, the COVID related violations were failing to provide a medical evaluation and fit testing for employees required to wear N-95 respirators and the absence of written policy for respiratory protection. The practice was also cited for deficient bloodborne pathogen exposure control and hazard communication policies,...

 OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogen Standard was created to protect workers occupationally exposed to blood or other potentially infectious materials (OPIM). This means any employee that might come into contact with infectious materials as a result of their job. Employers obligations are defined in the standard and the key components are highlighted in OSHA's Fact Sheet. We wanted to take this a step further and break down each bulleted point in more detail. Establish an exposure control plan. This is a written plan to eliminate or minimize occupational exposures.The employer must prepare an exposure determination that contains a list of job classifications in...