OSHA Violation?

[island emt]

YOU need to have a little come to jesus meeting with the slobs that don't clean up the truck at the end of the shift.

[MongoMedic]

Hey Jess,

Remember one thing about OSHA, they can find the slightest thing wrong and make it an "OSHA violation" if the inspector knows what they are doing. They can find things that would make your head spin.

I believe that the minumum fine for an OSHA violation is $7,000.00USD for each violation, unless it has gone up within the last 3 years. Now mind you that is not each time they find a bunch of trash in a place that it should not be, a violation would be considered each piece trash would count as one violation. So they find a hamburger wrapper, a soda bottle, and the bag that they came in that is $21,000.00 USD (for those that work with different currency).

One thing that folks need to remember, is that OSHA is there mainly to protect the "working man". Not necessarily the patient, such as this case. The concern here is that the back of your unit has been cantaminated with germs/coodies from patients and that can easily transfer to food drinks etc.

Also I do not know about other states, but Texas does not allow for consumption of food or drink in the back of the unit. If you are caught by DSH (Department of State Health) inspector then you can be fined by them as well.

A way that I would suggest to take care of this, cuz I have done as a Shift Supervisor is call the last crew in and first have them clean it up. Also next time that you take over a shift from that crew is simply refuse to take over the truck until it is left to you in an acceptable matter. A rule of thumb I used to tell crews, is if you would not put your family member in the back then it is not clean enough for you to put someone elses family member in the back.

I hope that helped.

[JPINFV]

So the crew has to be able to change their contaminated clothing. Does OSHA consider any clothing used during pt care to be contaiminated? I'm not trying to be an ass, just curious what is and is not considered contaminated. If they consider any clothing used during pt care, it sounds like they should not be eating in the ambulance. So, they can go into McDonalds and contaminate everyone else and the is okay.

I think the argument there goes that OSHA regulates the workplace. The ambulance is a workplace for EMS whereas the McDonalds isn't.

On the flip side of this, would you really WANT to eat in the patient compartment? We can't sanitize the patient compartment after every patient, although in a perfect world, we should.

Assuming you either just bought the food or it was stored in a sealed container, and you aren't wiping the food on the bench seat and gurney prior to eating it, does it really matter? Any additional bacteria on the food will be rather unimportant, and probably not much different than the amount of bacteria you would find extra on the food if you consumed it in McDonalds. Since the time from exposure to consumption is small, there probably wouldn't even be enough time for the bacteria to begin to divide, thus further limiting the bacterial level.

On the other hand, the bigger issue in my mind is the crumbs that might be left behind and there ability to recontaminate the environment than the actual exposure to the person eating.

[Chief1C]

I wouldn't eat in the back, ever. Ick. We're required by law to carry waterless hand sanitizer. But has anyone ever accidentally tasted it? Even some residual on my fingers can ruin my appetite. We eat in the cab all the time.

Edited January 15, 2012 by 2c4

[Eydawn]

OH MY GOD. I know exactly what you're talking about with the waterless sanitizer residue thing. @_@ It's got bitrex in it to keep kids from drinking it... over the course of a shift, it seems to become an impermeable force field of bitter. Absent minded hangnail? OMG. Try to eat a potato chip? Not on your life...

Wendy

CO EMT-B

[romneyfor2012]

I do not think that it is an osha violation, if I remember right, I think it was a CDC recommendation. Nonetheless, remember the old saying, Dont shit where you eat ! I imagine if you took a culture swab and touched any part of the ambulance you would find some disgusting results.

[Richard B the EMT]

I imagine if you took a culture swab and touched any part of the ambulance you would find some disgusting results.

Possibly, and probably, very true. While I know of nobody who would eat any food in the patient compartment, I had one Lieutenant who was insistant that we not eat in the ambulances, even in the cab. For reasons of both NYC costs, and portion control, I'd "brown bag" my meal, with my lunch bag stored inside my book bag, behind the cab seat. This particular Lieutenant even objected to that. However, he never wrote anybody up for "violating" this "policy", hence, I doubt there really was such policy. The station Captain, and the division Chiefs never mentioned it to us.