OSHA Publishes Guidance Documents for Pandemic Influenza

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have published five documents dealing with pandemic influenza. The documents are:

• “Healthcare Workplaces Classified as Very High or High Exposure Risk for Pandemic Influenza” – OSHA designed this fact sheet to assist healthcare workplaces and to protect these workers from exposure to pandemic influenza. Using the Occupational Risk Pyramid (at left) it defines who are very high or high risk and recommends engineering controls, administrative controls, work practices, and PPE to protect these workers.
• “What Employers Can Do to Protect Workers from Pandemic Influenza” – this fact sheet recommends engineering controls, administrative controls, work practices, and personal protective equipment (PPE).
• “Protect Yourself Pandemic Flu Respiratory Protection” – this quick card defines who needs a respirator based exposure risk, defines minimum level of protection as N95 respirator, states that surgical masks are not respirators, and OSHA requirements for a respiratory protection program.
• “How to Protect Yourself in the Workplace during a Pandemic” – this quick card lists suggested precautions and actions workers should take to reduce risk of becoming ill with pandemic influenza.
• “Respiratory Infection Control: Respirators Versus Surgical Masks” – this fact sheet defines the difference between respirators, such as filtering facepiece (used to be known as dust masks) and half mask respirators, and surgical masks, which are a physical barrier to protect users from hazards, such as splashes of large droplets of blood or body fluids. NIOSH certifies all respirators, including filtering facepieces, visit their website for recent warnings for respirator users (www.niosh.gov). NIOSH does not certify surgical masks to prevent inhalation of small airborne contaminants. Only surgical masks cleared by the Food and Drug Administration have been tested for their ability to resist blood and bodily fluids.

Con Edison Steam Explosion exposes Respirator Errors

Even after 9/11, we still have not learned the proper use for respirators. Police officers at the site are wearing the appropriate respirator but are they wearing it incorrectly? From the photo above what is wrong with the picture? The workers have their masks on but I bet they didn't perform a user seal check to make sure it was on correctly and working properly. As you can see from the photo the bottom straps have not been attached. The straps not being connected allows the bottom of the respirator to remain open. Since air will take the path of least resistance, it means everytime these officers breathe, the contaminants that they are to be protected from will enter the respirator from the bottom without filtering. The fact that several officers were seen wearing their respirators in this manner indicates that officers need further training on properly wearing a respirator.

The second photo shows people traveling through the area of the steam explosion. It was also noted in the Newday article "Little Risk From Asbestos" (Friday, July 20, 2007) that the Red Cross reported distributing 1,200 dust masks to city workers and commuters since Wednesday night. The problem here is that dust masks do not filter for asbestos. Another problem is that dust masks unless properly fit tested and adjusted to the face, will not ensure all the air passes through the mask instead of going around the mask. The best these masks are doing is providing the individual with a false sense of security that if there is any exposure that they are protected.

My final concern is the manner of the clean-up. I already saw several photos/videos of workers using dry sweeping clean-up the debris. This work procedure unless used together with amended water (dust suppression agent) will cause any asbestos dust in the debris to become airborne, again. Exposing workers and the public to asbestos, hence it is important to continue to monitor the clean-up of the explosion area. This will ensure that work procedures that cause the asbestos dust to become airborne are prevented.