Bill Text: CA AB850 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Employment: hospitals: virulent aerosol transmissible diseases.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Failed) 2016-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB850 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB850-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 850 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ridley-Thomas
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to amend add Section
6323 of 6403.2 to the Labor Code, relating to
employment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 850, as amended, Ridley-Thomas. Safety in employment.
Employment: hospitals: virulent aerosol transmissible
diseases.
Under existing law, the Division of Occupational Health and
Safety, within the Department of Industrial Relations, investigates
complaints that a workplace is unsafe and the division is authorized
to issue orders necessary to ensure employee safety. Existing law
permits the division to declare and prescribe what safety devices,
safeguards, or other means or methods of protection are well adapted
to render employees of every employment and place of employment safe.
Under existing law, an employer who violates any standard, order, or
special order of the division, or who violates statutory provisions
of existing law, may be subject to criminal, civil, and
administrative penalties, as specified.
This bill would require an employer who employs individuals in a
general acute care hospital, as defined, to, minimize the risk of
occupational exposure to virulent aerosol transmissible diseases, as
defined, and to provide optimal protection from occupational exposure
to pathogens and aerosolized body fluids, as specified. The bill
would also require these employers to, among other things, provide
any health care worker who enters the room of a specified patient
with personal protection equipment and a powered air purifying
respirator, as specified.
By expanding the definition of an existing crime, this bill would
result in a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Existing law authorizes the Division of Occupational Safety and
Health to seek an injunction from the superior court of local
jurisdiction when any employment or place of employment, or machine,
or other equipment constitutes a serious menace to the lives or
safety of persons in proximity to the hazard.
This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to this provision.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no
yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 6403.2 is added to the
Labor Code , immediately following Section 6403
, to read:
6403.2. (a) For purposes of this section, "virulent aerosol
transmissible disease" means a disease or pathogen identified in
Appendix A of Section 5199 of Title 8 of the California Code of
Regulations for which there is no federal Food and Drug
Administration approved vaccine or medicine, such as an antiviral,
that neutralizes the transmissibility of that disease or pathogen to
health care workers, that is not preventable by vaccine, and for
which there is significant associated morbidity or mortality.
(b) An employer who employs individuals in a general acute care
hospital, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 1250 of the Health
and Safety Code, shall do both of the following:
(1) Minimize the risk of occupational exposure to virulent aerosol
transmissible diseases.
(2) Provide optimal protection from occupational exposure to
pathogens from direct or indirect contact with droplets or
aerosolized body fluids generated by medical procedures or human
biological processes.
(c) If a patient presents himself or herself for care with
epidemiologic risk factors or any symptoms of illness consistent with
a virulent aerosol transmissible disease, such as Ebola virus
disease, an employer described in subdivision (b) shall do all of the
following:
(1) Immediately isolate the patient in a private or separate
enclosed area with a private bathroom or covered bedside commode.
(2) Provide any health care worker who enters the patient's room
with personal protection equipment (PPE) that includes, at a minimum,
a full body hazmat suit that is body fluid, blood, and virus
impervious, and meets the ASTM F1670 standard for blood penetration
and the ASTM F1671 standard for viral penetration.
(3) Provide any health care worker who enters the patient's room
with respiratory protection. This protection shall be, at a minimum,
a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) with an assigned protection
factor of at least 50 that is worn with a full hood that meets ASTM
F1670 and ASTM F1671 standards.
(4) Ensure that the PPE and PAPR provided are fully compatible
with each other and that they leave no skin exposed or unprotected.
(d) This section shall not be construed to amend any other
occupational health standard or requirement for an employer described
in subdivision (b) under Section 5193 or 5199 of Title 8 of the
California Code of Regulations, or under any other state law.
(e) The Legislature declares that the exclusive purpose of this
section is to require optimal PPE and respiratory protection with
PAPRs for health care workers who provide care for persons under
investigation for virulent aerosol transmissible diseases and for
persons with a confirmed disease.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local
agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a
new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or
changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of
Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a
crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution.
SECTION 1. Section 6323 of the Labor Code is
amended to read:
6323. If the condition of any employment or place of employment
or the operation of a machine, device, apparatus, or equipment
constitutes a serious menace to the lives or safety of persons about
it, the division may apply to the superior court of the county in
which the place of employment, machine, device, apparatus, or
equipment is situated, for an injunction restraining the use or
operation thereof until the condition is corrected.
