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Tag Archives: “public health”
IESO Presenting at 2011 PureSafety Conference
On Tuesday September 14, 2011, Dr. Scott Harris will present ”OSHA in Healthcare: Out of Sight & Out of Mind?” at the 2011 PureSafety Conference in Nashville, TN. He is one of a handful of industry speakers invited to participate in the event. Our web visitors can download sneak preview slides of Scott’s presentation here. A technical paper on this presentation is scheduled for publication in OSHATracker in September. Sorry, no release until then, but we will post it here as soon as it’s out.
So what is all the fuss about? Based on a number of generally accepted myths about OSHA, members of the healthcare community may think that management would be justified in taking little or no additional action to prevent the spread of occupationally acquired infectious diseases or deal with other OSHA issues. The facts say otherwise.
Posted in Health and Safety Compliance, Hot List, Risk Management
Tagged "Dr. Scott Harris", "healthcare industry", "ieso llc", "iesollc", "Joint Commission", "kenneth Harris", "Kenneth Scott Harris", "public health", "Scott Harris PHD", "Scott Harris", "The Joint Commission", IESO, nosocomial, nosocomials, OSHA, oshatracker, puresafety, RFI, TJC
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Asking for it: Have Healthcare OSHA Myths Created a Storm?
How can so many healthcare professionals think that healthcare is exempt from OSHA requirements or that compliance with The Joint Commission covers it? Does OSHA even inspect hospitals? How often and where? Will you get cited for violations, and what about penalties? How much and for what? Who’s doing more healthcare inspections – States or Feds? What are the top findings? What about complaints? The highest illness and injury rates IN THE NATION? 99,000 patient deaths per year from things they caught at the hospital?? You can’t be serious! Not at MY hospital!
Posted in Health and Safety Compliance, Hot List, Risk Management
Tagged "Dr. Scott Harris", "healthcare myths", "ieso llc", "iesollc", "Joint Commission", "kenneth Harris", "Kenneth Scott Harris", "public health", "Scott Harris PHD", "Scott Harris", "The Joint Commission", FOSC, healthcare, hospital, hospitals, IESO, ISO, OSHA, stats, storm, TJC
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Healthcare NIMS: Do You Speak the Language?
By Presidential Directive the National Incident Management System (NIMS) is the “common language” for all Federal, state and local responders. Healthcare personnel within a response structure should have completed four specific FEMA courses (IS-700.a, IS-800.b, IS-100.HCb and IS-200.HCa) by 2009 if they received FY 2008 ASPR funding. Many, if not most, failed to meet this requirement, leaving a huge preparedness gap. The goal is to strengthen medical surge capacity, and it is not optional. HHS requires hospitals to implement 14 specific NIMS objectives ranging from formal adoption to updated EOPs to mutual aid agreements, training and exercises. The courses take only two days and complete two of the 14 steps for your NIMS implementation effort. An experienced instructor is critical. Download the informational brochure here.
The New OSHA 30-Hour Class for Healthcare – Should We Care?
OSHA claims nosocomials to be “among the leading causes of death in the United States, accounting for an estimated 1.7 million infections and 99,000 associated deaths in 2002.” If accurate, hospital-acquired infections, these things you catch while you’re there for something else, kill more people in the U.S. every year than AIDS, drug overdoses, food-borne illness, murder, highway, rail and plane crashes, lightning, tornadoes, West Nile Virus and workplace fatalities COMBINED.
OSHA has publicly stated, “The healthcare sector as a whole experiences 1.3 times the injury and illness rate for private industry, with hospitals even higher, at 1.8, and nursing homes fully double.” They describe healthcare as having “a weak culture of worker safety” related to a lack of data on the prevalence of infections among healthcare workers (HCWs) and “a lack of effort by healthcare employers” in tracking or documenting them. OSHA thinks too many of an estimated 16.5 million HCWs are getting sick at work and that voluntary standards are not working, largely due to poor safety programs and lack of regulatory oversight.
Posted in Health and Safety Compliance, Hot List, Risk Management
Tagged "Dr. Scott Harris", "healthcare industry", "healthcare practice specialty", "healthcare workers", "ieso llc", "iesollc", "kenneth Harris", "Kenneth Scott Harris", "nosocomial infection", "osha 30-hour", "outreach trainer", "outreach trainers", "public health", "Scott Harris PHD", "Scott Harris", ASSE, HCW, healthbeat, healthcare, hospital, HPS, IESO, nosocomial, nosocomials, OSHA
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Joint Commission Requirements for NIMS in Healthcare
A Presidential Directive established the National Incident Management System (NIMS) as the “common language” for coordinated multi-agency responses for all Federal, state and local responders, including healthcare. Hospitals are required by The Joint Commission (TJC) to implement 17 specific NIMS activities ranging from formal adoption to updated EOPs to mutual aid agreements, training and multi-agency exercises. Coordination, planning and communication are key elements.
TJC specifies certain FEMA courses (IS-700, IS-800, ICS 100 and ICS 200), with the intended role of the responder dictating the type and depth of training required. Trainers should have demonstrated experience as an Incident Commander in a NIMS environment. HICS (Healthcare Incident Command System) training alone does NOT meet the NIMS requirements, but can supplement the program. HICS incorporates standard Incident Command System (ICS) principles, but with modifications for healthcare. IESO recommends “NIMS for Executives” for healthcare executives who need a working awareness of NIMS and their correct role in an event as facilitators.
Posted in Health and Safety Compliance, Management Systems, Risk Management
Tagged "Dr. Scott Harris", "FEMA courses", "healthcare accreditation", "healthcare industry", "ICS 100", "ICS 200", "ieso llc", "iesollc", "Incident Commander", "IS 700", "IS 800", "iso 14001", "Joint Commission", "kenneth Harris", "Kenneth Scott Harris", "NIMS for Executives", "OHSAS 18001", "proposed rule", "public health", "Scott Harris PHD", "Scott Harris", "The Joint Commission", audit, auditing, EOP, FEMA, HICS, hospital, IC, IESO, NIMS, OSHA, TJC, training
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OSHA Looking Hard at Healthcare Worker Infectious Diseases
In the May 6, 2010 Federal Register, OSHA published a Request for Information (RFI) to collect information from the healthcare industry on “occupational exposure to infectious agents in settings where healthcare is provided.” This includes hospitals, outpatient clinics, clinics in schools and correctional facilities and “healthcare-related” settings ranging from laboratories that handle potentially infectious materials to medical examiner offices to mortuaries. OSHA is specifically interested in current infection control strategies and practices and will use the information to “determine what action, if any, the Agency may take to further limit the spread of occupationally-acquired infectious diseases in these settings.” The deadline for comments is August 4, 2010. Download our Healthcare Alert for a brief summary.
Posted in Health and Safety Compliance, Hot List, Management Systems, Risk Management
Tagged "Cal-OSHA", "culture of safety", "Dr. Scott Harris", "exposure control", "healthcare accreditation", "healthcare industry", "healthcare worker", "healthcare workers", "hospital acquired infection", "ieso llc", "iesollc", "infection control", "infectious agent", "iso 14001", "kenneth Harris", "Kenneth Scott Harris", "management systems", "nosocomial infection", "occupational exposure", "proposed rule", "public health", "safety culture", "Scott Harris PHD", "Scott Harris", "The Joint Commission", "winter institute", "worker training", ADT, HAI, HCW, IESO, infection, nosocomial, OSHA, RFI, TJC, training
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IESO Presenting at 2010 KY Governor’s Safety Conference
Dr. Scott Harris has been accepted to present at the 2010 Governor’s Safety and Health Conference in Louisville, KY. On May 5 Scott will present “Macdona, TX Derailment and Chlorine Release.” Our web visitors can download an exclusive copy of Scott’s presentation, including audio from 911 and emergency dispatch calls.
So, what happened in Macdona? On June 28, 2004 a predawn train collision and derailment just outside of San Antonio released 60 tons of chlorine in less than three minutes. Misunderstood initial 911 calls sent responders on a “smoke run,” nearly killing the first arriving units. Misinformation, fatalities,
Posted in Hot List, Risk Management
Tagged "chlorine cloud", "chlorine release", "cost recovery", "Dr. Scott Harris", "ieso llc", "iesollc", "kenneth Harris", "Kenneth Scott Harris", "macdona crossing", "macdona tx", "public health", "san antonio", "Scott Harris PHD", "Scott Harris", "train derailment", "train wreck", "Union Pacific", "UP railroad", bnsf, chlorine, derail, derailment, EPA, FOSC, IESO, koerber, macdona, osc, PRP, PRPs, RP, texas, train, tx, UP
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IESO Faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill
An article on Oil Spill Chemical Countermeasures recently published by Dr. Scott Harris, the Senior Risk Manager at IESO, LLC, appears in the July-August newsletter from the North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (NC OSHERC). The NC OSHERC is one of 17 regional education centers established by NIOSH to develop and support safety and health professionals, and is part of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.
Posted in Health and Safety Compliance, Hot List
Tagged "Dr. Scott Harris", "hazardous substance training", "iesollc", "Keith Spencer", "kenneth Harris", "Kenneth Scott Harris", "NC OSHERC", "public health", "summer institute", "UNC Chapel Hill", "winter institute", faculty, Gillings, HST, IESO, NCOSHERC, niosh, training, UNC
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Pending “Drinking Water System Security Act of 2009″
A new bill covering drinking water facility security is being considered by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and will shortly be introduced. Until now, water facilities have been exempt from the requirements of Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS), which expires in late 2009. The Drinking Water System Security Act of 2009 will apparently replace or update those requirements and remove the water facility exemption.
At most water facilities the “substance of concern” is gaseous chlorine, frequently held in one-ton cylinders. Like many hazardous substances, chlorine is a very useful material that also poses significant risk. In this case it is a long-established component of clean drinking water, providing disinfection. It creates the “bleach” smell we might note in our tap water. On the other hand, both sides also used it as a weapon in WWI, though not a particularly effective one.
Posted in Hot List, Management Systems, Risk Management
Tagged "chemical facility", "chemical of concern", "Dr. Scott Harris", "drinking water security act", "drinking water security", "drinking water system security act of 2009", "drinking water system security act", "drinking water", "iesollc", "kenneth Harris", "Kenneth Scott Harris", "public health", "risk management", "rmp chlorine", "Scott Harris PHD", "Scott Harris", "vulnerability assessment", "vulnerability assessments", "water system security", "water systems", cfats, chlorine, csat, EPA, IESO, rmp
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