The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal agency responsible for ensuring worker and workplace safety, issued an information request on the occupational risks from infectious agents and suggestions on how to reduce or mitigate these risks. Although the information request is primarily focused on hospitals and other similar healthcare settings, OSHA is also seeking feedback as it relates to laboratory facilities, thus potentially opening up an important dialogue in the context of biopharmaceutical development, including vaccines.

OSHA issued a press release on May 6 and a notice on the same date in the Federal Register to explain its interest in gaining more information on the strategies currently being deployed in healthcare and related work settings to mitigate the risk of work-acquired infectious diseases. OSHA said it would like to collect information and data on the following: the facilities and the tasks potentially exposing workers to this risk; successful employee infection-control programs; control methodologies being used, including engineering, work practice, and administrative controls, and personal protective equipment); medical surveillance programs; and training.

OSHA will use the information received in response to this request to determine what action, if any, the agency may take to further limit the spread of occupationally acquired infectious diseases in these types of settings. OSHA is asking that the comments be submitted by Aug. 4, 2010.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) works with the US National Institutes of Health to publish biosafety guidelines for protecting workers and preventing exposures in biological laboratories. CDC’s Office of Health and Safety serves as the World Health Organization’s Center for Applied Biosafety Programs and Training. Biosafety is an important part of biopharmaceutical development and is certainly part of the industry’s environmental, health, and safety protocols. By seeking information on the technology changes and best practices as they relate to biosafety, not only in healthcare facilities, but in laboratories, OSHA is seeking to keep pace with evolving and increasingly complex considerations as they relate to biosafety. It will be important to watch what dialogue and subsequent actions may be generated from this initial round of discussion