A new vaccine is headed to the Democratic Republic of Congo to help fight an outbreak of Ebola. The vaccine, rVSV-ZEBOV, hasn’t yet been approved by the World Health Organization or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but 300,000 doses are now available due to the financial support of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.
Read an article about this new vaccine on the NPR website: Powerful New Ebola Vaccine Heads To Congo To Help Stop Outbreak.
The CDC Health Alert Network (HAN) issued the Health Advisory CDC HAN 403: Potential for Falsely Low Blood Lead Test Results from LeadCare® Analyzers on May 17, 2017. Read more at https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00403.asp.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently published an article titled PRISM Identifies Vaccine Safety Issues. PRISM, an acronym for Post-licensure Rapid Immunization Safety Monitoring System, is a cooperative effort between the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and its partners in the healthcare and medical insurance communities. This powerful, computer-based system can investigate adverse events to determine if there are connections to specific vaccines by analyzing critical bits of information separated from vast streams of healthcare data.
Please remember that May 15 is the deadline for National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) reporting for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) quality reporting programs. See setting-specific reporting requirements.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has become aware of N95 respirators being improperly sold by Toolway Industries in Canada with NIOSH Approval Numbers 84A-3323, 84A-4430 and 84A-6766. While these are valid NIOSH Approval Numbers, they were not issued to Toolway Industries. In all three cases, the company holding the approval does not have a relationship with Toolway, nor are they being manufactured under a private label agreement. If you have purchased any products from Toolway Industries bearing the NIOSH Approval Numbers 84A-3323, 84A-4430 or 84A-6766, please be advised that the product has not been tested or approved by NIOSH.
Should you ever have a question or concern about the authenticity of a respirator marked with a NIOSH Approval Number, please consult the agency’s Certified Equipment List at https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/cel/default.html or check the status at https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/disp_part/default.html. Always verify that the brand of respirator is listed either in NIOSH’s list of manufacturers or as a private label company.
The NIOSH publication 2013-138 “Respirator Awareness: Your Health May Depend on It” provides additional information to look for when verifying that your respirator is truly NIOSH-approved.
Information provided by Bobbi Jo Hurst, RN, BSN, COHN-S
A new web page highlights CDC’s work to prevent and control avian influenza viruses that pose a potential threat to human health. Areas of emphasis include monitoring for human infections with avian influenza viruses, research and risk assessments specific to certain viruses, and efforts to enhance preparedness and response capacities.
Information provided by Elaine Dawson, RN, COHN
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which had issued a rule requiring the electronic posting of such information for most employers in May 2016, announced that the filing deadline will be postponed for an undetermined period of time. OSHA has announced that it “intends to propose extending the July 1, 2017 deadline” for the first phase of its rule requiring the electronic submission of injury and illness records. The July deadline was for employers in certain categories to electronically submit their OSHA 300A annual summaries.
OSHA had previously set a deadline of July 1, 2017, for employers to file their injury and illness forms online. With the filing deadline only a month and a half away, OSHA has now delayed the filing. A new deadline has not been announced and OSHA has not offered a formal reason for the postponement. The Recordkeeping Rule, which covered nearly 441,000 workplaces, took effect January 1, 2017 and employers were obligated to send in their summary data for 2016 by July 1, 2017. But OSHA has yet to launch the website for companies to submit the information, and it posted language Wednesday (May 17th) with an existing fact sheet saying it “is not accepting electronic submissions of injury and illness logs at this time, and intends to propose extending the July 1, 2017 date by which certain employers are required to submit the information” to the agency.
The electronic recordkeeping rule would not have created new obligations in terms of reporting. Those employers covered by the new rule would have been asked to simply use data from their OSHA Forms 300, 300A, and 301 when using the electronic reporting method. One big change was that OSHA was prepared to electronically post injury and illness data on its website from all workplaces with 20 or more employees and for those in certain high-risk industries, making the information publicly available for the first time ever for consumption by unions, plaintiffs’ attorneys, and others. Submission was to be phased in based on employer establishment size and industry.
Information provided by Stephen A. Burt, B.S., M.F.A.
Chair, Government Affairs Committee
What if hospitals were able to further benefit from the data they collect to meet OSHA regulatory and Joint Commission accreditation requirements? What if your data could be used to hone in on trends and patterns in your hospital, highlight the specific area of risk, and provide the opportunity to implement tailored prevention strategies and measure successful impact?
The Occupational Health Safety Network (OHSN) does just that.
OHSN is a free, web-based system designed by NIOSH to reduce preventable injuries and illnesses among healthcare personnel. OHSN fills the gap for the need of a tool that can monitor work-related injuries by using specific, standard information that includes the root causes of injuries among healthcare workers and reports this information directly back to participating hospitals in a timely manner to guide interventions.
For more information on this article written by Dr. Ahmed Gomaa, MD, ScD, MSPH, click here.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined that Powdered Surgeon’s Gloves, Powdered Patient Examination Gloves and Absorbable Powder for Lubricating a Surgeon’s Glove present an unreasonable and substantial risk of illness or injury. The risk cannot be corrected or eliminated by labeling or a change in labeling. Consequently, the FDA is banning these devices.
This rule became effective January 18, 2017.
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-12-19/pdf/2016-30382.pdf
OSHA, the National Safety Council, the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the American Society of Safety Engineers, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health a have announced June 12-18 as Safe + Sound Week. The event is a nationwide effort to raise awareness of the value of workplace safety and health programs. These programs can help employers and workers identify and manage workplace hazards before they cause injury or illness, improving the bottom line. Throughout this week, organizations are encouraged to host events and activities that showcase the core elements of an effective safety and health program — management leadership, worker participation, and finding and fixing workplace hazards. Visit the Safe + Sound Week webpage to sign up for email updates on the event.
