PPE

Sacramento, CA — A bill signed into law Sept. 29 by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will require certain hospitals in the state to create and maintain at least a three-month supply of personal protective equipment, and ensure nurses and other health care workers use the PPE supplied to them.

Washington — In an effort to dispel “incorrect claims” about the efficacy of N95 respirators to protect wearers against COVID-19 infection, OSHA has added a section on respirators and particle size to its series of answers to frequently asked questions on protecting workers from exposure to the coronavirus.

Washington — NIOSH has extended until Dec. 14 the comment period for a Request for Information on the deployment and use of elastomeric half-mask respirators in health care settings and emergency medical services organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

How can proper eye protection relieve headaches and eye fatigue?

Wearing a facemask to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 can present obstacles to communication, “an important and complex transaction that depends on visual and, often, auditory cues,” says Debara L. Tucci, director of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

Tumwater, WA — A new e-tool from the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries is intended to help employers and workers choose the appropriate mask, facial covering or respirator based on the COVID-19 exposure risk level of specific job duties.

Washington — OSHA has issued temporary enforcement guidelines for fit testing of powered air-purifying respirators for workers at high risk of exposure to COVID-19.

Dallas — The OSHA Region 6 Training Institute Education Centers has developed a webinar on the proper implementation of a respiratory protection program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Boston — Employers in the health care industry need to ensure adequate availability of personal protective equipment and develop additional strategies to protect their frontline workers from COVID-19, a team of researchers has concluded after finding that health care workers in the United States and United Kingdom were at least three times more likely than the general public to report being infected – even after accounting for other risk factors – during the first several weeks of the pandemic.