Employer Bulletin No. 331 April 18, 2001 OSHA’s New Needlestick Safety And Sharps Injury Log Requirements Take Effect, But Enforcement To Be Delayed OSHA’s new needlestick amendments to the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard went into effect on April 18, 2001, as planned, despite the Bush Administration’s current "freeze" on regulatory activity. In an April 12 press release OSHA stated, however, that the amendments will not be enforced until the Agency has completed a 90-day outreach/education program. The new needlestick provisions were mandated by the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, which Congress passed unanimously and President Clinton signed into law on November 6, 2000. The Legislation exempted OSHA from certain rulemaking requirements so that the changes could be adopted quickly, and provided that the new requirements were to take effect 90 days after their publication by OSHA. OSHA published the amendments on January 18, 2001, and, as directed, set their effective date 90 days later on April 18, 2001. When President Bush took office on January 20, his Administration promptly ordered the heads of all executive departments and agencies to halt publication of new regulations and to delay for 60 days the effective dates of regulations already published but not yet in effect. The new Administration planned to review the new regulations issued during the waning days of the Clinton Administration. Prior to OSHA’s April 12 announcement that it was not delaying the effective date of the amendments, it was unclear whether they were covered by the Bush Administration order and subject to the 60-day regulatory review period. The new regulations are designed to clarify the need for employers to select safer needle devices as they become available and to involve employees in identifying and choosing the devices. The amendments also require employers to maintain a log of injuries from contaminated needles or other contaminated sharps. This "Sharps Injury Log" requirement, along with the other new requirements, apply to any general industry workplace where needles or other sharps are used (e.g., by a company doctor or plant nurse at an on-site clinic). The amendments specifically require consideration of safer medical devices as part of the re-evaluation of appropriate engineering controls during the required annual review of the employer’s exposure control plan. The revised Standard also calls for employers to solicit "front-line" employee input in choosing safer devices. In addition, employers must establish and maintain a "Sharps Injury Log" to track all needlestick and/or sharps exposure incidents, rather than only recording such incidents when they lead to illness or would otherwise be OSHA-recordable (i.e., when exposure incidents result in medical treatment beyond first aid, days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, loss of consciousness or death). Assuming that OSHA’s new Recordkeeping Regulation takes effect on January 1, 2001 as currently scheduled, employers may then elect to use the new OSHA 300 Log to meet the Sharps Injury Log requirement, provided the employer both includes on the 300 Log the type and brand of the needle or sharp device involved in the injury and maintains the 300 Log in a way that segregates (or can easily segregate by computer) the sharps injuries on a sheet separate from other types of work-related injuries and illnesses. Until that time, the Sharps Injury Log must be maintained in addition to the current OSHA 200 Log. Finally, regardless of whether a Sharps Injury Log or the 300 Log is used, the new Standard requires employers to maintain the confidentiality of employees who have suffered sharps injuries. If you have questions about the new requirements, the Sharps Injury Log, or require anything further, please feel free to contact Bill Principe or David Smith in the Atlanta office, or contact your Constangy attorney.