Amid COVID-19, OSHA issues respirator guidance for long-term care facilities

This year has been brutal on many levels, especially in healthcare. There’s the coronavirus...

Coronavirus: Northwell’s 10-step recipe for addressing patient surges

One of New York's largest health systems marshaled a range of resources and expertise to cope with...

ECRI: Half of disposable isolation gowns don't pass muster

More than half of disposable isolation gowns tested by ECRI failed to meet protection standards...

You probably already know about this, but…the threats just keep on coming

Source: Mac's Safety Space

I’m sure your IT folks are all over this, but I’m thinking that if you were looking for a non-COVID-related emergency response...

Keyes Q&A: Testing/inspection documentation, disinfectant hand wipes, control valves

Q: When it comes to documentation requirements for testing and inspection of features of life safety, do we need to show the individual pass/fail of equipment or an overall summary?

OSHA issues temporary guidance on PAPR enforcement

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently issued new temporary guidance on enforcement of initial and annual fit-testing requirements in the Respiratory Protection standard for Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPR).

Who can provide medical evaluation for respirator testing?

A hospital safety manager was seeking help complying with OSHA’s Respiratory Protection standard. Healthcare Safety Leader went to Marge McFarlane, PhD, MT(ASCP), CJCP, CHSP, CHFM, MEP, HEM, principal of Superior Performance in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and senior consultant with Compass Clinical Consulting in Cincinnati, for the answer. (The following Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity.)

Q&A: Hand hygiene compliance during (and after) COVID-19

Without addressing the root causes of hand hygiene noncompliance before COVID-19, facilities will fall back into bad patterns after the pandemic. December 1–7 is National Handwashing Awareness Week, and handwashing is even more in the spotlight this year because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

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