Blood Borne Pathogens and Temporary Workers

Many companies have gone the route of cutting costs through the use of leased or temporary workers. The use of temporary or leased workers provides many ways in which an employer can cut costs, such as not having to provide benefits, improved flexibility, etc.

One area in which a business owner CANNOT ease up on with leased or temporary workers is the protection from occupational hazards. OSHA has creasted and enforeced policies that all workers receive the same protection from occupational hazards.

This includes exposure to items like you see in the picture above....open cans, needles, dirty environment, recycled bottles, etc. Recycling companies typically encounter the occupational hazard of Bloodborne Pathogens (BPP) when they are sorting these types of material.

One company didn't provide their temporary workers the same protection as they did their permanent workers. OSHA came out, inspected and cited the company for not providing the same protection for the temporary/leased workers as they did for their permanent workers. OSHA cited two violations:

1. Failing to prepare an exposure determination for employees who manually sorted recyclable

bottles and cans who might have occupational exposure to blood or potentially infectious materials

and

2. Failing to offer hepatitis B (HBV) vaccinations to potentially exposed workers who manually sorted

recyclable bottles and cans.

In this type of case, the company was required to provide the same protection for the leased/temporary workersa as they did for their full time workers. There is no room for any other interpretation on this.

Make sure, if you use temporary/leased employees, that you are meeting the requirements for them at your business. It could save you lots of cash and lost time having to back into making it policy.

If you would like to read the full article, you can read it HERE.

If you need help in determining where your company currently stands on OSHA guidelines, just give us a call or email us.....We Will Help!

909-481-7223 or email us at Compliance@delaneyins.com