The Vallejo, CA branch of the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals has been cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for exposing their workers to potential pathogen infections from contaminated needles. Their biohazard waste box was routinely overfilled, which prevented the lid from closing tightly and allowed at least three workers to be stuck by needles while attempting to clean out the box.

The affected employees were given precautionary medications that prevented them from contracting a disease from the needle sticks.

Kaiser was cited with five violations of the bloodborne pathogen standard, which is in place to prevent workers from contacting potentially infectious materials. Two violations were labeled as “willful serious”, which means that the employer knew there was a hazard present and did not try to fix it.

“Kaiser should have had safety measures in place before employees were injured,” said Cal/OSHA Chief Julianna Sum.

Healthcare workers are on the front lines when it comes to treating, containing and protecting the public from infectious diseases but that can leave them vulnerable to infection themselves. Last year, Kaiser Permanente nurses in California went on strike to protest their lack of Ebola protections. The staff also wanted more training in order to be prepared for Ebola cases. After their strike, together with the California Department of Health, Cal/OSHA implemented new requirements for Ebola protections for healthcare workers.

The department investigated Kaiser after there was a complaint that employees were told to clean the sharps container with a broom and a dustpan. When the broom and dustpan became too cumbersome to thoroughly clean the container employees had to reach their own hands into the container, leaving them vulnerable to sticks from exposed needles that were not discarded with the proper protective caps.

They face $149,900 in fines and have corrected the hazardous material box. There are now two larger boxes to deposit needles into and they are monitored every half hour to make sure they do not overflow.