New Tuberculosis Directive Emphasizes Risk Assessment

Health-care employers could face penalties from federal workplace safety investigators if they fail to conduct risk assessments for tuberculosis, according to an enforcement directive issued July 13.

The new directive for TB, Enforcement Procedures and Scheduling for Occupational Exposure to Tuberculosis (CPL 02-02-078), issued by the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, instructs the agency’s enforcement personnel to consider citing employers, under the standards for respiratory protection or general requirements, if one of their facilities has no risk assessment for worker exposure to the infectious disease.

The agency’s previous TB directive didn’t mention citing employers if a facility was ...