Occupational Safety and Health Administration July 5, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

OSHA invites interested parties to participate in informal stakeholder meetings concerning occupational exposure to infectious diseases. OSHA plans to use the information gathered at these meetings to explore the possible development of a proposed rule to protect workers from occupational exposure to infectious agents in settings, either where workers provide direct patient care or where workers perform tasks other than direct patient care that also have occupational exposure. These other work tasks include: Providing patient support services (e.g., housekeeping, facility maintenance); handling, transporting, receiving or processing infectious items or wastes (e.g., transporting medical specimens, disposing of medical waste); conducting autopsies or performing mortuary services; and performing tasks in laboratories.