111 East 210th Street,
10467
New York,
United States
Violations of the following OSHA standards at the Montefiore Moses, Weiler, Westchester Square, Hutchinson Medical Center, or Montefiore Medical Center clinics: 1904 Failure to provide OSHA 300 Logs of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses requested by the New York State Nurses Association on Friday, April 10th, 2020. 1910.132 No written, certified hazard assessment for COVID-10 is available. Fit testing is not being conducted on the types of respirators provided to staff to ensure a proper fit and seal. Nurses providing direct care to patients with confirmed COVID-19 are provided with gowns that are not fluid-resistant or impermeable and do not fully cover the back of the wearer. In addition, only one gown is provided per nurse per day, which creates additional infection control risk as the viral load on the gown becomes very high. Nurses are given one face shield per day and are told to clean them. The excessive use and cleaning process sometimes cause the face shield to break apart. Staff are not given access to additional face shields in a timely manner. This even includes nurses who are performing aerosol-generating procedures such as intubation on patients with confirmed COVID-19. Inconsistent or no training is provided to staff regarding safe donning and doffing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Some receive video training, some receive text messages, and some receive no training at all. 1910.134 Staff are not being fit tested on the N95 respirators currently being provided. Montefiore does not have a range of sizes and types of respirators available. The 3M model 1860 N95 respirator currently being provided to nurses is causing medical reactions in many wearers including headaches, skin irritation and skin infections. Montefiore is not conducting safe procedures for discarding and cleaning disposable respirators that are in compliance with manufacturer instructions. 3M and other disposable respirator manufactures have stated that there is no proven method to safely decontaminate disposable respirator models while maintaining the fit and integrity of the respirator. In one facility a garbage bag is hanging on a wall with a sign that says, "Dispose of N95s here." It is not clear what is happening with those used respirators. Other nurses are being told that they must submit their disposable respirator to be auto-cleaned each day. This cleaning will be conducted 5 times and then a new respirator will be issued. Again, no form of cleaning/decontaminating disposable N95s has been approved by disposable respirator manufacturers. 1910.1030 Section 5(a)(1) Staff are not being provided with "clean" (uncontaminated) spaces to eat and drink during their shifts.
Source: Osha.gov | Receipt Date: 2020-04-25
