Just two days ago, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) disclosed the two new modules in their Hospital eTool.
One is the surgical module which now provides updated information about laser safety, bloodborne pathogens, waste anesthetic gases, and other topics related to workplace safety and health in surgical suites.
The other is the new sonography module which presents guidelines on how sonographers can reduce one of the risks in their job: developing musculoskeletal disorders due to the awkward movements, and poor posture. Both of these eTool modules were developed with input from the following Alliance Program participants:
- American Association of Occupational Health Nurses
- American Biological Safety Association
- Association of Occupational Health Professionals
- Association of periOperative Registered Nurses
- Joint Commission and Joint Commission Resources
- Laser Institute of America
- Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography
“These new and updated modules are examples of the many resources developed through our Alliances that address common hazards in the healthcare industry,” said Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA. “We will continue our mission of providing useful information to ensure employees remain safe and healthy while on the job,” he said.
Approximately 1.6 million employees, working at 21,000 work sites, belong to the healthcare industry. OSHA addresses 14 areas with their hospital eTool. They are the following:
- administration
- central supply
- clinical services
- dietary
- emergency
- engineering
- heliport operations
- housekeeping
- intensive care unit (ICU)
- laboratories
- laundry
- pharmacy
- surgical suite
- healthcare wide hazards
Here is a link to the updated Hospital eTool.
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October 6th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
This is a great site, thank you. I have been looking for this info for a long time, next time I’m just coming straight here.
October 16th, 2008 at 11:18 am
I am the representative from Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers that worked with OSHA to write the new hospital e-tool PLEASE remove the following statmenmt from your blog
quote”developing musculoskeletal disorders through constant exposure to high frequency ultrasound.” This will cause patients and others to believe that it is the ultrasound beam that causes risk for WRMSD and nothing is further from the truth.
Joan P Baker
October 16th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Joan, thank you very much for catching that and bringing it to our attention. I checked with Eric and it was a combination of improper research and mis-communication that caused this. We are fortunate to have somebody with your knowledge as one of our readers
Eric has edited the article to convey the cause of WRMSD correctly, what do you think?