OSHA Proposes Revised HazCom Standard to Conform to GHS

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed rules to modify the Hazard...

When Face-to-Face isn't an option: Exploring the future of telehealth and remote care during COVID-19 and beyond

This technology has been available for some time, of course, but was not nearly as widely used as...

30% of hospitals are noncompliant with CMS price transparency rule

Unsurprisingly, more hospitals were compliant with the 300 consumer-friendly shoppable services...

Are you transmitting? Late night fire drills and alarm signals…

Mac's Safety Space: I think we can safely say that sometimes it is tough to pinpoint specifics when it comes down to what performance elements are cited during regulatory surveys, be they virtual or actual. 

Becoming a Legionella prevention expert: Get certified on ASSE 12080

It’s often been unclear what qualifications or training should be required of a Legionella professional or expert. It is a gap that has left many infection preventionists or facility engineers unsure of what they need to know to protect patients, and created opportunity for unscrupulous vendors to claim expertise on the organism.

To fix this, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) teamed up to create ASSE Standard 12080, which “outlines the minimum qualifications needed, including knowledge and competency, to become a member of a water safety team involved in the development of a risk assessment analysis, and water management and sampling plan, for protection from Legionella and other waterborne pathogens.”

CMS humidity rule still requires you to follow manufacturer's requirement

Q: A piece of equipment comes with the recommendation that it should operate in a 30%–60% humidity range, and we do a risk assessment and show that over time (say more than a year), it has operated without incident. Based on that risk assessment, and per a policy stating such, can we continue to operate in less than 30% humidity?

NIST offers new tool for assessing airflow quality during COVID-19

Indoor air quality isn’t a new issue for healthcare facilities. Ensuring the quality of the air we breathe is a safety concern all organizations take into consideration both in daily life and when planning for alterations, updates, or improvements. The advent of COVID-19, however, has given healthcare facilities a fresh reason to examine the air quality in their buildings, with an eye to new risks and ways to prevent those risks from harming patients and staff.

Train staff on dangers of dry ice, other precautions handling vaccines

Now that more COVID-19 vaccines finally are being approved and the U.S. is ramping up immunization programs, educate or retrain workers on handling dry ice and ensure all areas with ultra-cold storage have good ventilation.

Dry ice can cause severe injury and even death if not handled correctly, warned Ramya Krishnan, senior project engineer of device evaluations for ECRI, during the patient safety organization’s online Q&A session in mid-December

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• The hierarchy of controls
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• The generator improvement rule 
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• And more!

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Brian Ward
Editor
bward@hcpro.com


HCPro
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