New York – Federal inspectors say a New York City hospital faces $201,000 in fines for exposing employees to the risk of infection from dirty laundry.
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital replaced linen laundry bags with thin plastic bags about a year ago.
OSHA says the bags broke and needlessly exposed workers to laundry contaminated with blood, bodily fluids and other infectious materials.
Kay Gee, OSHA’s director for Manhattan, said Friday that management knew the bags were deficient but kept using them.
In addition, OSHA says its investigation found that the hospital failed to screen patients for an increased risk of tuberculosis.
The hospital in upper Manhattan faces $201,000 in proposed fines.
Hospital officials say they disagree with OSHA’s citations and are contesting them.
everyone is trying to cut corners and sometimes you need to still do things the old fashioned way. same as the city council not wanting people to sue plastic bags . if we keep reusing old ones we will get bugs in our homes from dirty bags.
Cheapness never pays.
Columbia had a Legionella outbreak several years ago as well.The infectious disease Dept at Columbia obviously is not doing what it is suppose to be doing.