OSHA offers new resources
For healthcare compliance

In August OSHA released the Health Care Industry module for Compliance-Assistance Quick Start, which is designed to help more small businesses and other healthcare facilities find relevant compliance-assistance resources on OSHA's Web site. Within its Compliance-Assistance Quick Start program, OSHA also has developed compliance modules for general industry, the construction industry and outreach for Hispanic workers and managers.

"It is important that we make every effort to help put education materials into the hands of stakeholders," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Edwin G. Foulke Jr. Jr. The new tool for healthcare professionals "is another example of how OSHA is making valuable information easily accessible to employers and employees so they can build and sustain a safe and healthful work environment."

OSHA tool at a glance
The Health Care Industry Compliance-Assistance Quick Start module is broken down into steps for easier navigation to specific resources managers may need, explained Darin Prescott, RN, BC, BSN, CNOR, CASC, a clinical educator at Centracare/St. Cloud Hospital in St. Cloud, Minn. "I may not need a full consult, but I may have a specific question on record keeping. This tool helps me find what I need without having to spend a lot of time wading through information."

The module contains a series of eight steps:

• 1: OSHA requirements that apply to many healthcare employers 
  This section provides a summary of common OSHA requirements healthcare employers should be familiar with, including standards on hazard communication, bloodborne pathogens, fire safety and personal protective equipment.
  
• 2: Other hazards at healthcare facilities
  Here, users can find more information on OSHA requirements, including standards addressing workplace safety concerns that AORN is currently targeting, such as ergonomic hazards, workplace violence and slips, trips and falls.
  
• 3: Survey your workplace for additional hazards
  Self-survey tools, checklists and an OSHA technical manual on hospital investigations of health hazards are available in this section to help employers assess possible safety hazards in their facilities.
  
• 4: Find information about specific healthcare sectors
  This section includes OSHA compliance information for specific health care sectors, including hospitals and medical offices. The hospital information includes a link to OSHA's Hospital eTool Surgical Suite module, which AORN recently reviewed because it focuses on perioperative safety standards.
  
• 5: Develop a comprehensive safety and health program 
  While OSHA does not specifically require employers to develop formal safety and health programs, it provides information for developing and implementing voluntary health and safety programs as a way to prevent workplace injury and illness and bolster compliance with OSHA standards.
  
• 6: Train your employees 
  Here, users can access training presentations for employees and find information on specific training programs OSHA offers.
  
• 7: Recordkeeping, reporting and posting
  This section provides information on posting OSHA information, reporting employee workplace injuries and keeping records on specific occupational injuries and illnesses, including needle-stick and sharps injuries.
  
• 8: Find additional compliance-assistance information
  Here, users can access the agency's On-site Consultation Program, which provides free, confidential consultations so employers can learn about potential occupational hazards in their facility. Other additional compliance resources also are available.
  
• Library                                                                                                                                                                      This collection of healthcare compliance Web links, publications and more includes materials referenced in the Compliance-Assistance Quick Start, as well as other additional compliance assistance resources.

Making compliance easier
This new healthcare-focused Compliance-Assistance Quick Start module is directed primarily for employers at small facilities in the healthcare field, such as rural hospitals.

"Smaller facilities don't always have educators or compliance staff, so this new OSHA tool is a good source for any perioperative manager tasked with ensuring OSHA compliance, particularly because the module includes educational materials managers can share with staff," said Prescott, who also serves on AORN's Perioperative Environment of Care Committee as a co-lead for the committee sub-group that helps oversee an AORN/OSHA alliance, which was signed in December 2006.

As partners in this alliance, AORN provides perioperative expertise and review of OSHA materials, including OSHA's Hospital eTool referenced in the Health Care Industry Compliance-Assistance Quick Start module.

An important goal for the alliance is to share information in order to better inform AORN members about OSHA standards, and this new online tool is a good example of the ways AORN can take advantage of OSHA resources, said Donna Pritchard, RN, BSN, MA, CNOR, CNA, director of perioperative services at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, Brooklyn, N.Y., and current chair of AORN's Perioperative Environment of Care Committee.

Pritchard points to OSHA's free compliance consultation program (in Step 8 of the module) as a particularly valuable tool for AORN members. "It's really all about providing the safest work environment possible," Pritchard said. "I think this new Web-based module provides a wealth of information. One always wants to be in compliance, and this tool provides a wonderful opportunity for managers to get free, expert advice and education they can share with administrators and staff."

Read more articles in this issue.