Other problems specific to hospitals can be found on OSHA's Tech Link page on hospitals and health care. These are in Technical Links, under the Outreach section, and they include airborne hazards such as ethylene oxide from sterilizers. OSHA also has a standard for glutaraldehyde, a chemical used as a disinfectant. Waste anesthetic gases from surgery suites can be a problem. In most cases, these are scavenged right in the surgery room and taken care of by the anesthesiologist.
Alarms usually go off when the gases are detected.
Another emerging issue, according to Hathon, is laser plumes. When using lasers for surgery or cauterizing, the resulting plumes can contain biologicals. According to Hathon, hospitals often think of the bacteria legionella, which is found in the water system, as a potential hazard to patients. Immunocompromised people are particularly vulnerable, Hathon says, and employees also can be immunocompromised if they are heavy smokers or have other health conditions. Marstiller says that employees should be persistent about reporting their concerns to their managers.