What Is Required If Your Athletic Facility Needs a Blood-Borne Pathogens Plan?

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bickerstaff W ; Kirchartz Y ; Winn GL ; Bickerstaff W ; Kirchartz Y ; Winn GL
• Description:
  Protecting workers at school or in industry has been the focus of occupational safety laws for almost a century. Since the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1970, workplaces of all sites and kinds have been implementing comprehensive plans to safeguard employees and on-site visitors. These strict, federally mandated regulations include disaster-contingency plans, evacuation plans, machine inspections, and so forth. Worker safety at places frequented by the general public (e.g., schools and athletic facilities) sometimes has an unfortunately high profile. When safety plans fail in such places, the news media often portray these failures (e.g., outbreaks of violence or construction fatalities) as indictments of the entire regulatory system, even though the system quietly prevents countless losses each day. In their growing stages, safety plans are often driven by crises; they receive attention only when there is a real emergency. Protecting workers' long-term health in the above-mentioned facilities (which may be managed by coaches or physical educators) is required under OSHA, but this requirement receives far less news attention, and, unfortunately, far less management attention as well. In fact, while many schools, athletic facilities, and industries have full-fledged emergency safety policies and procedures in place, these organizations are less likely to pay the same attention to less immediate health threats. This may be partially due to the fact that many workplace health problems don't show up until years aft.er exposure. The health effects of chemical exposures, for example, are often chronic, whereas acute injuries (e.g., broken bones or severe lacerations) receive instant attention because they may have immediate life-threatening effects. In addition, chronic health hazards are much harder to spot; detection often requires the use of specialized instruments. These instruments may in turn require extra employee training and maintenance and calibration by qualified individuals in order to ensure top-level performance. While attention to employee health is a growing management function, specific health risks may not be readily apparent, particularly when health programs are not in place. The obvious risks are to workers whose lives may be threatened. But also at risk are the capital investment in buildings not built to health standards and even the potential for lawsuits against the school or company operating an athletic facility long after hazardous exposures occur. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Blood Blood-Borne Pathogens Chronic Disease Communicable Diseases Disaster Planning Emergencies Hematologic Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Bloodborne Pathogens Chronic Diseases Emergency Preparedness Infectious Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Regulations
• ISSN:
  0730-3084
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article ; Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  34-36
• Volume:
  71
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057489
• Citation:
  J Phys Educ Recreat Dance 2000 Aug; 71(6):34-36
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2000
• NORA Priority Area:
  Research Tools and Approaches: Exposure Assessment Methods ; Research Tools and Approaches: Exposure Assessment Methods
• Performing Organization:
  West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  19940701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance
• End Date:
  20050630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b77cba3d5f42c4f3c3212dfab4404985c1d3b60ed80103c03ef128969c4d5ab714fde052bf5c09fd89677852d268cdc3f46cc5414cf8c349aabfed16ede8d225
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/214828/cdc_214828_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.54 MB ]