The employee is responsible for reporting any exposure incident immediately to his or her supervisor. Training and education are hallmarks of any program whose success requires individual participation. Health care workers must recognize that cooperation and compliance with the components of the Final Rule are essential. Employers are required to provide a training program at no cost and during working hours for all employees with potential for occupations exposure to blood and body fluid exposure upon initial assignment and at least annually thereafter. Employers must maintain medical and training records for each employee with actual or potential occupational exposure for a designated period of time.
Universal precautions provide the minimum of behaviors and protocols required by law.
In many settings, such as hospitals, the application of universal precautions has been expanded beyond bloodborne pathogen transmission. This expansion includes the use of protective barriers when having contact with urine ad saliva to prevent transmission of other infections, such as herpes, cytomegalovirus, etc. In 1998, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Guideline for infection control in health care personnel, a revision of their 1983 guidelines. The revised guidelines were designed to provide methods for reducing the transmission of infections from patient to health care personnel and from personnel to patients. Prevention strategies in the revised document include immunizations for vaccine-preventable diseases, isolation precautions, management of personnel exposure to infection persons, including postexposure prophylaxis, and work restrictions for exposed or infected health care personnel.