OSHA standards for bloodborne pathogens and personal protective equipment require employers to protect workers from occupational exposure to infectious agents. The Bloodborne Pathogen standard applies when workers have accidental occupational exposure to human blood or other potentially infectious materials. 

Employers and workers should be familiar with several key approaches to infection control, including universal precautions and standard precautions.

Universal precautions, originally recommended by the CDC in the 1980s, was introduced as an approach to infection control to protect workers from HIV, HBV, and other bloodborne pathogens in human blood and certain other body fluids, regardless of a patients’ infection status. Universal Precautions is an approach to infection control in which all human blood and certain human body fluids are treated as if they are known to be infectious.

Standard Precautions, introduced in 1996 in the CDC/Healthcare Infection Control. SP includes hand hygiene; the use of certain types of PPE based on anticipated exposure; safe injection practices; and safe management of contaminated equipment and other items in the patient environment. SP is applied to all clients and patients even when they are not known or suspected to be infectious.

Keeping yourself, employees and customers safe is critical to having a healthy working environment.