Evaluation of Ventilation Controls for Tuberculosis Prevention at a Hospital

Details

• Personal Author:
  Niemeier, Todd R.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  The HHE Program evaluated ventilation controls at a hospital after latent tuberculosis infections were identified among hospital staff. Investigators measured ventilation airflow in some airborne infection isolation rooms, airborne infection isolation anterooms, and standard patient rooms
  
  they found that air in the isolation rooms and anterooms was exhausted directly to the outside as recommended. All but one of the isolation rooms measured met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guideline of providing at least six air changes per hour. Investigators recommended that the anterooms adjacent to the isolation rooms be rebalanced. All but one of the isolation rooms measured met the CDC guidelines for negative pressure (greater than or equal to 0.01 inches of water gauge). HHE Program investigators recommended that the employer follow CDC recommendations for airflow rates in isolation rooms and anterooms. A sufficient number of isolation rooms should be maintained to house patients with known or suspected active tuberculosis disease. Investigators also evaluated the use of portable air cleaners that could be used in standard patient rooms because of an insufficient number of airborne isolation rooms. As a result, investigators recommended that when portable air cleaners with high efficiency particulate air filtration and ultraviolet germicidal irradiation are used, their placement be carefully considered to achieve good air mixing. Additionally, they should be exhausted directly outside, the rooms should be maintained under negative pressure, and there should be no recirculation of room air to other parts of the facility. Investigators recommended that employees report suspected problems with the ventilation system in isolation rooms and anterooms to supervisors immediately.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Air Movements Air Pollutants, Occupational Communicable Diseases Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Hospitals Occupational Health Safety Tuberculosis Ventilation
• Keywords:
  AII Room Air-flow Air-purification Air-purifiers Airborne Infection Isolation Room General Medical And Surgical Hospitals Health-care-facilities Healthcare Infection-control Infectious-diseases OSHA Region 6 TB Tuberculosis Ventilation-systems

  More +
• Source:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 2010-0092-3188, 2013 Jul ; :1-11
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA201000923188
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Texas ; OSHA Region 6
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  18 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Booher, Donald E. ; Brown, Stefanie M. ; Feldmann, Karl D. ; Galloway, Ellen ; King, Bradley ; Winfree, Mary
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042985
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2013-110073
• Citation:
  NIOSH [2013]. Health hazard evaluation report: evaluation of ventilation ; controls for tuberculosis prevention at a hospital. By Niemeier RT. ; Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers ; for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational ; Safety and Health, NIOSH HETA Report No. 2010-0092-3188,
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  622110 - General Medical and Surgical Hospitals - (NAICS)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:af18c27fae0a6d4e65738696454a3aa8b30ac4c131b150109e165d1dd5b5b809460d12192bfa423c2d6b18223bcd73b9c67602b6d96abb3d4f428d357a406b1c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172460/cdc_172460_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.80 MB ]