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| BD Commends Introduction of New Needlestick Prevention Bill | |
| Senate Joins
House and Introduces New Bill to Help Protect Health Care Workers
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| Contact: Camilla B. Jenkins BD (201) 847-5369 | |
| Franklin
Lakes, NJ -- Wednesday, September 20, 2000 -- BD (Becton,
Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX) today commended the introduction
of S.B. 3067, a bill sponsored by Senator James Jeffords (R- VT) to
require changes in the bloodborne pathogens standard in effect under
the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. The bill reflects a
strong bipartisan consensus in support of sound legislation that
will help protect healthcare workers from accidental needlesticks
and follows similar legislation sponsored by Representative Cass
Ballenger (R-NC) on September 14, 2000. Both bills use identical
language to amend the Occupational Safety and Health
Administrations (OSHA) Bloodborne Pathogens Standard and give
health care workers guaranteed access to safety-engineered devices.
It is very promising that Congress and the Senate are aligned behind this issue and appear poised to pass legislation that will help to protect our nations healthcare workers, said BD President and CEO Edward J. Ludwig. The new bill does this without restricting the flow of newly developed technologies from any manufacturer, and will preserve industrys ability to provide customers with high quality products that deliver superior patient care and satisfaction.
The new legislation, which comes less than a year after the revised OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen Compliance Directive of November 1999, directs OSHA to formally modify its 1991 Bloodborne Pathogen Standard. The bill requires that employers use sharps with engineered sharps injury protection features and needleless systems to reduce the risk to healthcare workers of occupational exposure to HIV, hepatitis C and other bloodborne pathogens. The bill requires that healthcare workers responsible for direct patient care who potentially could be exposed to contaminated sharps participate in the evaluation of these products. In addition, the bill requires health care facilities to update and review their Exposure Control Plans to reflect changes in technology, such as safety-engineered devices, and maintain a log of accidental needlestick occurrences. BD pioneered the development of safety-engineered products over 12 years ago and is today the leading supplier of safety-engineered medical devices. In July 2000, the Company launched the second wave of the BD Safety Compliance Initiative, a comprehensive education and training program to assist customers in complying with the new OSHA Compliance Directive.
BD is a medical technology company that manufactures and sells a broad range of supplies, devices, and systems for use by health care professionals, medical research institutions, industry and the general public. For the fiscal year ended September 30, 1999, BD reported total revenues of $3.4 billion and net income of $276 million.
For more information on healthcare worker safety, visit http://www.bd.com/safety/ | |
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