The Melrose-Wakefield Hospital in Melrose, Mass., was fined $28,000 by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration after a complaint about possible violations of blood borne pathogen standards which protects workers from health hazards, according to an article on the Boston CBS website.
The OSHA report that surgical employees were placing open or loosely covered basins containing hazardous medical waste (excess blood, tissue, bone, feces, fat, etc.) and contaminated instruments into utility carts that leaked these contaminated fluids during handling.
“I think the fact that there might be bodily fluids that are spilling out of containers and contaminating floors and possibly contaminating workers is very disturbing,” WBZ’s medical editor, Dr. Mallika Marshall, said in the article.
“The first priority has to be patient and worker safety. That is why we have representatives meeting with hospital management right now pressing them for information on this situation,” said Jeff Hall, Local 1199 SEIU union.
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