Saturday, December 11, 1999
Janitorial service cited for health, safety violations
BY JOHN NOLAN
The Associated Press
A Finneytown cleaning company has been accused for the first time of failing to train and properly equip employees who could be infected while cleaning uphealth care facilities, the government said Friday.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Red Carpet Janitorial Service Inc., 891 North Bend Road, failed to vaccinate workers and to provide gloves, footwear and eyewear to protect employees from possible hepatitis B or AIDS infection.
“They might need to be doing a better job in handling the waste once they collect it so that employees are not directly exposed to the waste,” said Colleen O'Toole, vice president of the Greater Cincinnati Health Council, which is not involved in the viola tions.
“This is the first case in the U.S. where a significant penalty has been issued to a janitorial service company for violations of OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogens Standard,” said William Murphy, OSHA's area director in Cincinnati.
Similar charges have been made against health care employers, such as nursing homes, said Richard Gilgrist, OSHA's assistant Cincinnati area director.
One employee of Red Car pet Janitorial was pricked by apparently used needles twice in June while working at doctors' offices at a suburban Cincinnati complex, OSHA officials said. There is no evidence that the worker has become sick, Mr. Gilgrist said.
Employees also were exposed to contact with sharp, used instruments such as scalpels.
Red Carpet Janitorial has 15 working days to contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. It could face a fine of up to $121,500.
The company plans to challenge the OSHA citations, said John Vogele, vice president. He said Red Carpet Janitorial is not responsible for removing biological waste from medical offices.
Red Carpet, which was founded in 1970 and serves the Cincinnati and Dayton ar eas, has never had such complaints against it, Mr. Vogele said.
OSHA also said the company failed to:
• Ensure decontamination of exposed surfaces within health care facilities;
• Ensure used sharp objects were not placed into unlabeled and puncturable containers;
• Provide a physician's written evaluation to the employee after an accidental needle stick;
• Obtain and maintain required medical treatment records;
• Implement an effective chemical hazard communications program at all worksites.
OSHA accused the company of 12 willful and serious federal violations of the agency's bloodborne pathogens standard.
The agency notified the company of the initial complaints about a month before an Aug. 3 inspection at the complex in Anderson Township. Red Carpet said it had fixed the problems, but they continued, Mr. Gilgrist said.
OSHA defines a serious violation as one in which the employer knowingly failed to comply with a legal requirement or acted with plain indifference to employee safety or health.
Enquirer reporter Earnest Winston contributed to this story.
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