OSHA has produced new guidelines in response to Ebola saying workers cleaning or decontaminating for Ebola must use at a “minimum” NIOSH-approved, fit-tested N95 respirators in situations where there could be exposure to the deadly virus through a bio-aerosol, such as could occur from spraying liquids or air during cleaning.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued sweeping new guidelines for health care workers to prevent the spread of Ebola that recommend standard use of N95 or air-purifying respirators near Ebola, as opposed to earlier guidance suggesting such high-end respirators are only needed during aerosol-generating procedures.
Industrial health experts are urgently calling on OSHA, and also taking their case directly to the White House, to move forward as rapidly as possible on a rulemaking to tackle infectious diseases in health care settings -- pressure that follows close on the heels of at least two U.S. health workers testing positive for the Ebola virus.
Senate Appropriations Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) announced a full committee hearing Nov. 6 in Washington on on the U.S. government response to the Ebola outbreak. The Senate hearing follows a similar probe last week by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
On the House side, the Oversight Committee will hold a hearing Friday (Oct. 24), despite the congressional recess, examining whether the government is adequately training and equipping American health care workers and military personnel who treat patients infected with the deadly virus.
Mikulski's move to get the appropriations panel more directly involved in understanding the government-wide response comes shortly after Congress approved a spending package that includes devoting funds at the behest of the Obama administration to fighting the spread of Ebola, particularly in West Africa (see related document).
The National Nurses Union said the president's decision to tap a White House Ebola czar falls short unless the administration gives the czar power to cut off Medicare and Medicaid funds at hospitals that don't meet the highest uniform, national workplace safety standards.
Worldwide concern over outbreaks of Ebola disease has hit home in the U.S. health care sector as a nurse in Dallas who cared for a now-deceased patient with the virus has contracted the disease, despite use of full personal protective equipment (PPE), putting new pressure on employers to institute comprehensive infection control programs that include site-specific training of employees.
Nurses and their supporters across the United States are voicing a variety of concerns about the U.S. health care sector's readiness to provide them with adequate health protections as cases of Ebola infection begin sprouting up outside the disease-ravaged region of West Africa, including a patient in Dallas and most recently a nurse in Spain -- with ensuring adequate protective gear a key priority of advocates.
Worker safety advocates in New York have issued a new report sharply critical of working conditions for contract employees within the city's two major airports, ranging from potential bloodborne pathogen exposure to excessive noise levels, and say workers' health concerns about bodily fluid exposures are heightened now that suspected cases of Ebola disease have apparently gone through the U.S. aviation system.
Members of the Senate health and appropriations panels raised concerns about the lack of clear coordination among the slew of federal health agencies working to address the African Ebola outbreak, while backing the Obama administration's request for an additional $88 million to bolster U.S. efforts to tamp down the public health problem.
The Health and Human Services Department has issued wide-ranging guidance on ways to protect U.S. health care workers from potential Ebola exposure that suggests using respirators in certain situations -- a document that worker advocates generally praise for its intense focus on correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE).