OSHA cracks down on sharps-safety violators.

www.nursingcenter.com THE OCCUPATIONAL Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is cracking down on facilities that don’t comply with sharps-safety regulations. Two citations issued in 2003 show that health care facilities must fully comply with OSHA’s requirement to use safety-engineered sharp devices or pay a price. In 2001, OSHA revised the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, strengthening its requirement to use safety devices to reduce needle-stick risk. Since then, OSHA has dramatically increased citations for violations. Two recent citations are especially noteworthy—in one case, for the size of the fine imposed; in the other, for the detail and scope of the violations cited.