CSSB 261(HES): "An Act relating to needle stick and sharps injury protections and the use of safe needles by health care facilities and health care professionals; relating to the vaccination of health care workers against diseases transmitted by bloodborne pathogens; and providing for an effective date."
00CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 261(HES) 01 "An Act relating to needle stick and sharps injury protections and the use of 02 safe needles by health care facilities and health care professionals; relating to the 03 vaccination of health care workers against diseases transmitted by bloodborne 04 pathogens; and providing for an effective date." 05 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 * Section 1. AS 18.60 is amended by adding new sections to read: 07 Article 13. Health Care Protections. 08 Sec. 18.60.880. Needle stick and sharps injury protections for health care 09 workers. (a) An employer shall conduct product evaluations of needleless systems 10 and sharps with engineered sharps injury protections that are used in the employer's 11 facilities. For each category of device, the product evaluations shall be conducted by 12 front-line health care workers representing all wards and medical specialties where the 13 devices are used. The product evaluation period must last at least six months. The 14 categories of devices to be evaluated under this subsection include
01 (1) IV catheters; 02 (2) IV access devices and IV connectors; 03 (3) vacuum-tube blood collection devices; 04 (4) blood-drawing devices including phlebotomy needle and tube 05 holders, butterfly-type devices, and syringes and other similar devices; 06 (5) syringes used for purposes other than blood drawing; 07 (6) suture needles; 08 (7) scalpel devices; and 09 (8) any other category of device used at the employer's facility where 10 there is a sharps injury risk. 11 (b) The department shall, by regulation, adopt a standard concerning the use 12 of needleless systems and sharps with engineered sharps injury protections for devices 13 listed in (a) of this section. The regulations must provide that 14 (1) needleless systems and sharps with engineered sharps injury 15 protections must be included as engineering and work practice controls; however, the 16 engineering control is not required if an evaluation committee established by the 17 employer, at least half the members of which are front-line health care workers, 18 determines by means of objective product evaluation criteria that use of the devices 19 will jeopardize patient or employee safety with regard to a specific medical procedure; 20 (2) a written exposure control plan include an effective procedure for 21 identifying and selecting existing needleless systems and sharps with engineered sharps 22 injury protections; the procedure must provide that a product evaluation committee 23 described in (a) of this section has responsibility for identifying and selecting the 24 devices; 25 (3) written exposure control plans shall be updated when necessary to 26 reflect progress in implementing needleless systems and sharps with engineered sharps 27 injury protections as determined by the evaluation committee described in (a) of this 28 section; updating must occur at least once every year; 29 (4) information concerning exposure incidents shall be recorded in a 30 sharps injury log as required by (c) of this section. 31 (c) A sharps injury log must include at least
01 (1) the date and time of the exposure incident; 02 (2) the type and brand of sharp involved in the exposure incident; and 03 (3) the description of the exposure incident that must include 04 (A) the job classification of the exposed employee; 05 (B) the department or work area where the exposure incident 06 occurred; 07 (C) the procedure that the exposed employee was performing 08 at the time of the incident; 09 (D) how the incident occurred; 10 (E) the body part involved in the exposure incident; 11 (F) if the sharp had engineered sharps injury protections, 12 whether the protective mechanism was activated, and whether the injury 13 occurred before the protective mechanism was activated, during activation of 14 the mechanism, or after activation of the mechanism; 15 (G) if the sharp had no engineered sharps injury protections, the 16 injured employee's opinion as to whether and how such a mechanism could 17 have prevented the injury, as well as the basis for the opinion; and 18 (H) whether an engineering, administrative, or work practice 19 control could have prevented the injury, as well as the recorder's basis for the 20 opinion. 21 (d) The department shall adopt regulations to implement AS 18.60.880 - 22 18.60.890 and to revise the bloodborne pathogen standard to prevent sharps injuries 23 or exposure incidents. The regulations may include 24 (1) training and education requirements; 25 (2) measures to encourage the vaccination of health care workers 26 against diseases transmitted by bloodborne pathogens; 27 (3) requirements for the strategic placement of sharps containers as 28 close to the work area as practical; and 29 (4) requirements for the increased use of personal protective equipment. 30 (e) The department shall compile and maintain a list of sources of information 31 on existing needleless systems and sharps with engineered sharps injury protections.
01 The department shall make the list available to assist employers in complying with the 02 requirements of the bloodborne pathogen standard adopted under this section. 03 (f) Subject to appropriation, the department shall establish a needlestick injury 04 fund. The department may make grants from the fund for research into, development 05 of, and product evaluation of, needleless systems and sharps with engineered sharps 06 injury protections. 07 (g) Standards adopted under (b) of this section do not apply to the use of a 08 drug or biologic prepackaged within an administration system or used in a prefilled 09 syringe that is approved for commercial distribution or investigational use by the 10 federal Food and Drug Administration if the standards exceed the requirements of the 11 comparable Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards. 12 Sec. 18.60.890. Definitions. In AS 18.60.880 - 18.60.890, 13 (1) "bloodborne pathogens" means pathogenic microorganisms that are 14 present in human blood and can cause disease in humans, including hepatitis B virus, 15 hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency virus; 16 (2) "department" means the Department of Labor and Workforce 17 Development; 18 (3) "employer" means an employer having an employee with 19 occupational exposure to human blood or other material potentially containing 20 bloodborne pathogens; 21 (4) "engineered sharps injury protections" means a physical attribute 22 built into 23 (A) a needle device used for withdrawing body fluids, accessing 24 a vein or artery, or administering medications or other fluids that effectively 25 reduces the risk of an exposure incident by a mechanism such as barrier 26 creation, blunting, encapsulation, withdrawal, retraction, destruction, or other 27 effective mechanisms; or 28 (B) another type of needle device, or a nonneedle sharp, that 29 effectively reduces the risk of an exposure incident; 30 (5) "engineering controls" means controls, including needleless systems 31 and sharps with engineered sharps injury protections, that isolate or remove the
01 bloodborne pathogens hazard from the workplace; 02 (6) "needleless system" means a device that does not use needles for 03 (A) the withdrawal of body fluids after initial venous or arterial 04 access is established; 05 (B) the administration of medication or fluids; or 06 (C) another procedure involving the potential for an exposure 07 incident; 08 (7) "sharp" means an object used or encountered in a health care setting 09 that can be reasonably anticipated to penetrate the skin or any other part of the body 10 and to result in an exposure incident, including needle devices, scalpels, lancets, 11 broken glass, broken capillary tubes, exposed ends of dental wires, and dental knives, 12 drills, and burs; 13 (8) "sharps injury" means cuts, abrasions, needlesticks, other injuries 14 caused by a sharp, or human bites; 15 (9) "sharps injury log" means a written or electronic record satisfying 16 the requirements of AS 18.60.880(c). 17 * Sec. 2. AS 18.60.880(g) is repealed December 31, 2003. 18 * Sec. 3. This Act takes effect January 1, 2001.