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first aid kits and physician approval
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first aid kits and physician approval
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We are an accounting and business management firm in CA that employees 42 employees. We are currently in the process of reviewing our IIPP and safety compliance. Regarding first aid kits: we have a ma
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Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » first aid kits and physician approval
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first aid kits and physician approval
posted at 8/15/2011 11:21 AM EDT
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Posts: 12
First: 3/18/2011 Last: 8/17/2011 |
We are an accounting and business management firm in CA that employees 42 employees. We are currently in the process of reviewing our IIPP and safety compliance. Regarding first aid kits: we have a main first aid kit in our breakroom that is serviced by a first aid kit products company. They come out periodically to refill anything that is running low and to change out anything that is near expiration. According to the Construction and Safety Orders, section 1512, "drugs, antiseptics, eye irrigation solutions...shall not be included in first-aid ktis unless specifically approved, in writing, by an employer-authorized, licensed physician." We do stock asprin and other types of pain and nausea over-the counter medication. Does it follow that we now need to get the contents of our first aid kit approved by a physician? Has anyone had experience going through the physician approval process? |
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first aid kits and physician approval
posted at 8/15/2011 11:43 AM EDT
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Posts: 2442
First: 2/12/2000 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I am not an expert but..... those rules appear to apply to construction sites and not steady state built out white collar office operations.
Who has advised you that you need to comply with these rules? |
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first aid kits and physician approval
posted at 8/15/2011 2:45 PM EDT
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Posts: 562
First: 11/12/2009 Last: 9/14/2011 |
My experience with such first aid kits is that I was always getting billed for restocks of common consumables such as aspirin. It didn't take long to figure out that it was, in most cases, employee medicine cabinets at home that were getting restocked.
Keep a first aid kit around for sure, but keep access limited. |
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first aid kits and physician approval
posted at 8/17/2011 9:17 AM EDT
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Posts: 12
First: 3/18/2011 Last: 8/17/2011 |
We started doing some research on the topic in response to an article we came across. There seems to be a lot ofconflicting information out there. The geeneral industry safety orders in CA Code of Regulations, section 3400 does state that "There shall be adequate first-aid meterials, approved by a physician, readily available for employees on every job." Federal OSHA (1910.151(b) has removed the requirement for physician approval). In the recent cal/OSHA First Aid advisory meeting held on June 29, 2011, they discussed the topic of physician approval for first aid kit items and there was some debate about whether any medications contained in the kits shoud require physician approval, what standards to go by for what should be contained in the kit, and if the kits in general need to be physician approved. They seemed to lean towards no physician approval, unless medications are included. While it is nice to have the pain meds on hand in case someone does have something like a headache and does not have a supply of their available, it seems like a lot more trouble than it is worth at this point. At least for now, until final rules are announced. |
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first aid kits and physician approval
posted at 8/17/2011 9:42 AM EDT
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Posts: 2442
First: 2/12/2000 Last: 9/14/2011 |
"""There shall be adequate first-aid meterials, approved by a physician, readily available for employees on every JOB."
At the risk of repeating myself this means a job site or construction site not job as in your office "jobs". Therefore I still believe that none of this is required. The real risk that any company has is that of employees taking meds that you have made available and then having them claim that they got ill from your meds.. I would make sure that the first aid kit has a large disclaimer on the front indicating that by taking any item from the first aid kit the person accepts and understands the risk of use of any of the items therein. |
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