Mon - Sat: 8:30-18:00
Bloodborne Pathogens Training for Healthcare Workers
Last updated
Who Needs Bloodborne Pathogens Training in Healthcare?
Clinics · Dental · Laboratories · Home Health
Healthcare is the setting 29 CFR 1910.1030 was written for. Exposure is not incidental here, it is a routine feature of the work, and OSHA expects the controls to reflect that.
This page covers what the standard requires of a healthcare employer and where clinics, dental practices, laboratories and home health agencies most often fall short.
Bloodborne pathogens training for healthcare workers is the one certification on most clinical checklists that comes due every year rather than every two.
Which bloodborne pathogens course you need
This work has its own course: Bloodborne Pathogens Training for Healthcare Workers, available online or in person. It carries 300 minutes — five hours — of instruction and a 25-question examination at an 80 percent passing score. It covers everything 29 CFR 1910.1030 requires of a training program, and adds the sharps injury log, the annual review of safer engineered devices, and the controls that differ between a dental practice, a laboratory, a clinic and home health.
The five-hour length is set to meet the longest state training requirement, so it also satisfies the shorter ones. Certification is valid two years. Note that 1910.1030 separately requires covered employees to be retrained at least annually, so a two-hour update course is offered for the intervening year where a jurisdiction requires annual training.
Email support@lifeguardandsafetytraining.com to schedule the in person class. Full course details are on our Bloodborne Pathogens Training page.
Bloodborne pathogens training for healthcare workers: what OSHA requires
Training at initial assignment and annually. Not once at hire. The annual cycle is measured from the previous training date, and OSHA inspectors check the dates.
Hepatitis B vaccination offered within 10 working days of initial assignment, at no cost to the employee, and after training has been given. If an employee declines, the declination statement must be on the specific wording in Appendix A of the standard and kept on file. An employee who declines may later change their mind and must still be offered the vaccine.
A sharps injury log is required of most healthcare employers, recording the type and brand of device, the department where the incident occurred, and how it happened.
Annual review of safer devices. The Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act requires employers to review and document consideration of safer engineered sharps, with input from the frontline staff who use them. Employers are frequently cited for having a plan that was never updated.
The exposure control plan must be reviewed at least annually and whenever tasks or procedures change.
Where each setting differs
Dental practices. Handpiece sterilization between patients, aerosol generation during scaling and drilling, and sharps that include not only needles but wires, burs and endodontic files. Contaminated extracted teeth are regulated waste.
Laboratories. Specimen handling, centrifuge aerosols, and the requirement that specimens be placed in a labeled leakproof container for transport. Laboratory settings also carry the standard’s additional requirements for HIV and HBV research facilities where those apply.
Home health. The controls that a clinic provides through its building are absent. Sharps disposal, hand hygiene without a controlled sink, transport of contaminated materials, and pets and children in the work area all have to be planned for in advance rather than solved on the spot.
Outpatient and urgent care. Rapid patient turnover and staff who move between roles make it easy for training records to fall out of date. The record, not the recollection, is what an inspector reviews.
Who must be trained
Job duties decide this, not job title. In healthcare and clinical operations that normally includes:
- Doctors, nurses, CNAs and medical assistants
- Dentists, dental hygienists and dental assistants
- Phlebotomists and laboratory technicians processing blood or human tissue
- Home health aides and hospice care workers
- Housekeeping, laundry and environmental services staff handling regulated waste
Reception and clerical staff usually fall outside it, because contact with blood is not a reasonably anticipated result of their duties. The test is the duties as assigned, not the department.
Questions
At initial assignment and at least annually after that, under 29 CFR 1910.1030. Our certification runs two years, and a two-hour update course covers the intervening year where annual training is required.
The test is job duties, not job title. Reception staff usually do not have reasonably anticipated exposure. Housekeeping and maintenance staff who handle regulated waste or clean patient areas usually do.
Yes. Training is required regardless, and the declination itself must follow training, since the employee has to be informed before deciding.
Annually, at minimum. Retraining is additionally required when a change in tasks or procedures affects exposure.
The employer. It must be maintained so that it protects the confidentiality of the injured employee.
29 CFR 1910.1030 has no small-employer exemption. It applies wherever there is occupational exposure.
Enrol in our bloodborne pathogens training for healthcare workers — $25, five hours, online or in person, certification valid two years.
About Us
We are a nonprofit that trains and certifies in Lifeguarding, Waterfront Lifeguarding, Junior Lifeguarding, Shallow Pool Lifeguarding, Sexual Harassment Training, CPR/AED, CPR for Lifeguards, First Aid Emergency Oxygen, and swimming lessons.
© Copyright American Aquatics and Safety Training. All Rights Reserved