OSHA revises workplace injury reporting rule

OSHA issues final workplace injury and illness reporting rule

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on May 11 issued a final rule on recording and reporting work injuries and illnesses. The rule is meant to improve tracking of workplace mishaps and requires employers in certain industries, including health care, to electronically submit injury and illness data to OSHA that they are already required to keep under existing regulations.

The frequency and content of the reporting varies according to the size and industry of the employer. OSHA plans to post the data in a publicly accessible online forum but will take precautions that information won’t identify individuals. For instance, the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living expressed concerns about maintaining patient privacy. OSHA says it has effective safeguards in place to prevent disclosure of personal or confidential information.

The new requirements will go into effect Aug. 10, with phased-in data submissions beginning in 2017.

ASHE explains tentative interim amendments included in NFPA Life Safety Code

After the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) published the 2012 editions of NFPA 101: Life Safety Code and NFPA 99: Health Care Facilities Code, the organization adopted several tentative interim amendments to improve and clarify the codes. Now that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has adopted both codes, it is also including the same amendments in its Conditions of Participation for health care occupancies.

The American Society for Healthcare Engineering has listed these amendments in a helpful guide with comments explaining the purpose of each.

Study looks at sink location impact on hand-washing compliance

Researchers observed hand washing in 15 wards at Jewish General Hospital in Montreal and determined that poor access to sinks is associated with decreased hand-washing compliance.

The cross-sectional study included 247 hand-hygiene opportunities of health care workers following care of a Clostridium difficile-infected patient. Researchers found that although glove use compliance was high, hand-washing only occurred 14.2 percent of the time and hand rubbing was performed 33 percent of the time instead of hand-washing. Sinks were directly visible upon exiting the patient’s room only 33.2 percent of the time.

AIA, HOK team up to research public health impact of design

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has partnered with architectural firm HOK to advance research on how design affects community health. They say the goal is to help members of the AIA Design & Health Research Consortium to conduct research that can be translated into practice by architects.

For instance, the Center for Health Systems & Design, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, will research how the built and natural environment affects patients, healing, pain relief, quality health care, physical activity, social interaction and workflow. Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation will focus on how to support physical activity in the built environment.

Tool shows cost-effectiveness of Zika prevention interventions

Recent funds allocated and proposed to help in Zika preparedness prompted a group of researchers to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these attempts to minimize the threat of an outbreak.

The researchers developed an interactive tool that suggests that the health burden from microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome does warrant substantial expenditures focused on Zika virus control.

Olympus scope reprocessor completes FDA testing validation

The Food and Drug Administration has added the Olympus America OER-Pro model TJF-Q180 automated endoscope reprocessor to its list of equipment that has gone through validation testing and been found “adequate” according to FDA requirements. Testing is still in process for the Olympus open elevator channel duodenoscope, the TJF-160VF model.