FIRST REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 635
91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
TED WEDEL, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 191, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to a blood-borne pathogen standard.
Section A. Chapter 191, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 191.714, to read as follows:
191.714. 1. As used in this section, the following terms shall mean:
(1) "Employer", any employer having public employees with occupational exposure to blood or other material potentially containing blood-borne pathogens;
(2) "Frontline health care worker", a nonmanagerial employee responsible for direct patient care with potential occupational exposure to sharps-related injuries;
(3) "Public employee", an employee of the state or local governmental unit, or agency thereof, employed in a health care facility, home health care organization or other facility providing health care related services.
2. The department of health shall, no later than six months from the effective date of this section, adopt a blood-borne pathogen standard governing occupational exposure of public employees to blood and other potentially infectious materials that meets the standard in 29 CFR 1910.1030 and shall include a requirement that the most effective available needleless systems and sharps with engineered sharps injury protection be included as engineering and work practice controls. However, such engineering controls shall not be required if:
(1) None are available in the marketplace; or
(2) An evaluation committee, described in subsection 5 of this section, determines by means of objective product evaluation criteria that use of such devices will jeopardize patient or employee safety with regard to a specific medical procedure.
3. The use of a drug or biologic that is prepackaged with an administration system or used in a prefilled syringe and is approved for commercial distribution or investigational use by the federal Food and Drug Administration shall be exempt from the provisions of this section until June 1, 2004.
4. The sharps injury log maintained pursuant to this section shall include:
(1) The date and time of the exposure incident;
(2) The type and brand of sharp involved in the exposure incident;
(3) A description of the exposure incident to include:
(a) The job classification of the exposed employee;
(b) The department or work area where the exposure incident occurred;
(c) The number of hours worked at the time of the exposure incident;
(d) The procedure that the exposed employee was performing at the time of the incident;
(e) How the incident occurred;
(f) The body part involved in the exposure incident; and
(g) If the sharp had engineered sharps injury protection, whether the protective mechanism was activated, and whether the injury occurred before the protective mechanism was activated, during activation of the mechanism or after activation of the mechanism.
5. The evaluation committee established pursuant to this section shall have at least half of the members be frontline health care workers from a variety of occupational classifications and departments, including but not limited to nurses, nurse aides, technicians, phlebotomists and physicians, selected by the state-certified representative of such workers to advise the employer on the implementation of the requirements of this section. Members of the committee shall be trained in the proper method of utilizing product evaluation criteria prior to the commencement of any product evaluation.
6. Any reference in 29 CFR 1910.1030 to the assistant secretary shall, for purposes of this section, mean the director of the department of health.
7. Any person may report a suspected violation of this section or 29 CFR 1910.1030 to the department of health. If such report involves a private employer, the department shall notify the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the alleged violation.
8. The department of health shall compile and maintain a list of needleless systems and sharps with engineered sharps injury protection which shall be available to assist employers in complying with the requirements of the blood-borne pathogen standard adopted pursuant to this section. The list may be developed from existing sources of information, including but not limited to the federal Food and Drug Administration, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
9. By February first of each year, the department of health shall issue an annual report to the governor, state auditor, president pro tem of the senate, speaker of the house of representatives and the technical advisory committee on the quality of patient care and nursing practices on the use of needle safety technology as a means of reducing needlestick injuries. By February fifteenth of each year, such report shall be made available to the public on the department of health's Internet site.
10. Any employer who violates the provisions of this section shall be subject to a reduction in or loss of state
funding as a result of such violations.
Missouri House of Representatives