2011 California Code
Labor Code
DIVISION 1. DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS [50 - 176]
CHAPTER 6. Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board
Section 144.7

(a) The board shall, no later than January 15, 1999, adopt an emergency regulation revising the bloodborne pathogen standard currently set forth in Section 5193 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations in accordance with subdivision (b). Following adoption of the emergency regulation, the board shall complete the regulation adoption process and shall formally adopt a regulation embodying a bloodborne pathogen standard meeting the requirements of subdivision (b), which regulation shall become operative no later than August 1, 1999. Notwithstanding Section 11346.1 of the Government Code, the emergency regulation adopted pursuant to this subdivision shall remain in effect until the nonemergency regulation becomes operative or until August 1, 1999, whichever first occurs.

(b) The board shall adopt a standard, as described in subdivision (a), to be developed by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health. The standard shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(1) A revised definition of engineering controls that includes sharps injury prevention technology including, but not limited to, needleless systems and needles with engineered sharps injury protection, which shall be defined in the standard.

(2) A requirement that sharps injury prevention technology specified in paragraph (1) be included as engineering or work practice controls, except in cases where the employer or other appropriate party can demonstrate circumstances in which the technology does not promote employee or patient safety or interferes with a medical procedure. Those circumstances shall be specified in the standard, and shall include, but not be limited to, circumstances where the technology is medically contraindicated or not more effective than alternative measures used by the employer to prevent exposure incidents.

(3) A requirement that written exposure control plans include an effective procedure for identifying and selecting existing sharps injury prevention technology of the type specified in paragraph (1).

(4) A requirement that written exposure control plans be updated when necessary to reflect progress in implementing the sharps injury prevention technology specified in paragraph (1).

(5) A requirement that information concerning exposure incidents be recorded in a sharps injury log, including, but not limited to, the type and brand of device involved in the incident.

(c) The Division of Occupational Safety and Health may consider and propose for adoption by the board additional revisions to the bloodborne pathogen standards to prevent sharps injuries or exposure incidents including, but not limited to, training requirements and measures to increase vaccinations.

(d) The Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the State Department of Health Services shall jointly compile and maintain a list of existing needleless systems and needles with engineered sharps injury protection, which shall be available to assist employers in complying with the requirements of the bloodborne 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, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

(Amended by Stats. 2001, Ch. 370, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2002.)