Labor & Industries (L&I), Washington State

Bloodborne Pathogens Chapter 296-823, WAC

Effective Date: 09/01/04

 

WAC 296-823-110  Planning

For printing

Your Responsibility:

To plan ways to protect your employees from the risk of exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials

You must

Determine if you have employees with occupational exposure	WAC 296-823-11005
Develop and implement a written exposure control plan	WAC 296-823-11010

WAC 296-823-11005

Determine if you have employees with occupational exposure

You must

• Prepare a written exposure determination if your employees have occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials (OPIM).
  • – This determination must be made without considering the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Make sure the exposure determination contains:
  • – A list of job classifications where all employees have occupational exposure;
  • – A list of job classifications where some employees have occupational exposure and a description of all tasks and procedures or groups of related tasks and procedures with occupational exposure for these employees.

WAC 296-823-11010

Develop and implement a written exposure control plan

You must

• Establish a written exposure control plan designed to eliminate or minimize employee exposure in your workplace.

Note: The elements of your exposure control plan may be located in other documents such as policies and procedures. Make sure to reference their location in your plan.

You must

• Make sure the plan contains at least the following elements:

  • – The exposure determination, WAC 296-823-11005
  • – A procedure for evaluating the circumstances surrounding exposure incidents, including documentation of the routes of exposure, and the circumstances under which the exposure incident happened
  • – How and when you will implement applicable requirements of this rule.

Note: The implementation dates need to be included only until your exposure control plan is fully implemented or when you are adding new requirements to your plan.

Helpful Tool: Exposure Control Plan You can find a sample of this plan in the Resources section of this chapter.

You must

• Document the infection control system used in your workplace to protect employees from exposure to blood or OPIM.
  • – Use universal precautions or other at least as effective infection control systems.

Note: Universal precautions is an infection control system that considers the blood and OPIM from all persons as containing a bloodborne disease, whether or not the person has been identified as having a bloodborne disease. Other effective infection control systems include standard precautions, universal blood-body fluid precautions, and body substance isolation. These methods define all body fluids and substances as infectious. They incorporate not only the fluids and materials covered by universal precautions and this chapter, but expand coverage to include all body fluids and substances.

• Solicit input in the identification, evaluation, and selection of effective safer medical devices. This input must be solicited from nonmanagerial employees responsible for direct patient care with potential exposure to contaminated sharps.
  • – Document the process you used to solicit input and include the identity of the employees or positions that were involved.

Note: You aren't required to request input from every exposed employee; however, the employees selected must represent the range of exposure situations encountered in the workplace. Your safety committee may assist in identifying employees. Although you are required to include nonmanagerial employees, you aren't prohibited from soliciting input from managerial and other employees.

You must

• Make sure the exposure control plan is reviewed and updated:
  • – At least annually
  • and

  • – Whenever necessary to:

    • Reflect new or modified tasks and procedures which affect occupational exposure
    • Reflect new or revised job classifications with occupational exposure.
    • Reflect changes in technology that eliminate or reduce exposure to bloodborne pathogens
    • Document consideration and implementation of appropriate commercially available and effective safer medical devices designed to eliminate or minimize occupational exposure.
• Make sure a copy of the exposure control plan is accessible at the workplace, when exposed employees are present. For example, if the plan is stored only on a computer, all exposed employees must be trained to operate the computer.
• Make sure a copy of the plan is provided to the employee or their representative within 15 days of their request for a copy.