What Should You Do If An Employee Has An Exposure Incident

Home » What Is An Exposure Incident » What Should You Do If An Employee Has An Exposure Incident

Maybe your like

Blog

According to the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen Standard, an exposure incident occurs with blood or other potentially infectious material (OPIM) coming in contact with the eye, mouth, mucous membranes, non-intact skin or parenteral contact due to the employee’s work-related duties.  Following appropriate first aid measures, the employer should be notified to arrange for an immediate confidential medical evaluation and follow-up.

This must be at no cost to the employee and must be performed by or under the supervision of a licensed physician.  Laboratory tests must be done by an accredited laboratory and also at no cost to the employee.

An employee may choose not to consent for HIV testing at the time of exposure incident but can decide within 90 days to have sample tested. The blood sample must be kept for this time period.

Early intervention could help prevent infection or possible spread of bloodborne pathogens.  Vaccination status of the employee should be determined.  If the employee had declined Hepatitis B vaccine prior to the exposure, the vaccination should be offered again at no charge.

The HIV and HBV status of the source individual should be determined.  If the source individual consents, the employer should test the blood as soon as possible.  Some states allow testing of the source without their consent.  Results of source individual’s infectivity are shared with the exposed employee, however the employee must not disclose the identity or infection status of the source.

An investigation should be performed regarding the circumstances of the exposure incident to potentially prevent another avoidable exposure incident.  Documentation should include the location of the incident, device used and/or procedure performed, personal protective equipment used and engineering controls in effect, and the applicable employee training prior to the exposure.  Any changes to procedures should be noted in the Exposure Control Plan.

According to US Public Health Service, post-exposure prophylaxis must be offered for HIV, HBV, HCV.  The exposed employee should receive education on the tests and interpretations and possible illnesses related to exposure.

Finally, a written opinion must be given to the employee within 15 days of healthcare provider’s evaluation. This should include:

  • whether Hep B vaccine was recommended
  • whether or not the employee received vaccination
  • healthcare provider informed employee of results of evaluation and any medical conditions due to exposure that would require further evaluation
You might also like
PaymentAre You Familiar With the New CMS Payment Model?bloodborne pathogenWebinar Q&A: OSHA- Bloodborne Pathogen and Hazard Communication TrainingBusiness AssociateDoes The Sunshine Act Apply To You?pop quizHealthcare Compliance Pop Quiz: Test Your KnowledgedeadlineTips for Submitting OSHA Form 300A by the Deadline!Business AssociateDefine Your Relationship- Vendor or Business Associate?

Subscribe to Weekly eNewsletter

Get the latest healthcare compliance updates straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Recent Posts

  • Naughty or Nice? The Rules of Giving and Receiving in Healthcare
  • fraud waste abuse healthcare complianceFWA in Healthcare: How to Respond Appropriately to Detected Offenses
  • Infographic: 6 Areas of Potential Liability for Healthcare Providers6 Areas of Potential Liability for Healthcare Providers
  • 5 Benefits of Automating Incident Reporting in Healthcare
  • Compliance Primer Series: Fraud, Waste and Abuse
  • Compliance Primer Series: Internal Audits

First Healthcare Compliance is a division of Panacea Healthcare Solutions. Learn more

Subscribe

Get the latest healthcare compliance updates straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Connect

Get started: Request Demo

Call: 1-888-54-FIRST

E-mail: Contact us

Scroll to top Scroll to top Scroll to top

We and our third-party partners use cookies to improve and personalize your experience on the site and with our services in addition to delivering and reporting on ads. Please visit our Privacy Statement for more information. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Read Privacy Statement.

OKDismiss

Cookie and Privacy Settings

How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Check to enable permanent hiding of message bar and refuse all cookies if you do not opt in. We need 2 cookies to store this setting. Otherwise you will be prompted again when opening a new browser window or new a tab. Click to enable/disable essential site cookies. Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Click to enable/disable Google Webfonts.

Google Map Settings:

Click to enable/disable Google Maps.

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Click to enable/disable Google reCaptcha.

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Click to enable/disable video embeds. Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy and Copyright Notice Accept settingsHide notification only

Tag » What Is An Exposure Incident