A quick response by SEIU nurses kept the California OSHA Standards Board from weakening the new Aerosol Transmissible Disease Standard on the eve of its official implementation.
The new standard, the nation’s first workplace standard designed to protect healthcare and other workers from aerosol (airborne and droplet) transmitted diseases, officially went into effect on August 5. It represents a hard won victory for SEIU nurses, who led on this issue from the beginning and were tireless advocates to see the new standard passed. Ingela Dahlgren, RN, Executive Director of the SEIU Nurse Alliance of California, was one the key figures who spoke in favor of the standard when it was unanimously adopted by the Cal/OSHA Board on May 21.
Unfortunately, some were trying to weaken the requirements of the new standards just as they were going into effect. The decision by Cal/OSHA that infection control procedures require airborne precautions (including the use of N95 or better respirators) is a key to protecting healthcare workers from H1N1 (swine) flu, as well as the agents which cause tuberculosis (TB), measles, pertussis, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). It is the official position of the SEIU Nurse Alliance of California that using only droplet precautions (less protective surgical masks) is not adequate.
Reviewing the requirements of the new standard is the responsibility of Mark Horton, the Director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). The current position by CDPH supports airborne precautions. In addition, the CDPH has already scheduled a federal Center for Disease Control (CDC) stakeholder and public review for the new standard, which will likely be completed by October 1, 2009. The CDC will use the recommendations and other information obtained from this deliberative process to revise the current infection control guidance as needed.
But rather than wait for the public transparent process that is already in place, many local health officers, along with hospital infection control managers and affected employers, were putting pressure on the CDPH to change their position and reduce worker protections to “droplet” precautions. If that had happened. it would have not only weakened worker protections in California, but likely affected worker protections against H1N1 across the nation.
SEIU nurses were worried that the CDPH did not appear to be seeking the input of healthcare and other workers and unions who would be affected by this change in policy. In response, the SEIU Nurse Alliance of California sent out an emergency email asking nurses to call Mark Horton. The email asked nurses to stress that there is a lot not yet know about the H1N1 virus, and with the recent death of a nurse at Mercy San Juan Hospital in Northern California, and reports of other healthcare workers who have been hospitalized with H1N1 flu, this wasn’t the time to change the policy in a knee jerk fashion.
The calls had a huge impact, as the CDPH announced that they will not be reducing their guidance and will wait for the official CDC review. We will be following up with SEIU nurse members throughout the state on how everyone can help protect and enforce the new standards at your facility.
Download and read the original Cal/OSHA Reporter article that details the testimony of SEIU Nurse Alliance of California Executive Director Ingela Dahlgren on May 21.
The details of the new standard can also be found at the Cal/OSHA website.
