STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1236

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: H.B. No. 790

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 790, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH CARE WORKER INJURY PREVENTION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Director of Health to require employers to maintain certain records of sharp injuries to employees with occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of Health, Hawaii Nurses' Association, and Hawaii Government Employees Association.

According to testimony on this measure, there are an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 needlestick injuries per year involving health care workers. Your Committees find that needlestick injuries put health care workers at risk for potentially fatal exposure to bloodborne pathogens, including HIV and Hepatitis C. The federal government has addressed this risk by requiring that employers use safer needle devices and maintain a sharps injury log.

This measure enhances federal recordkeeping requirements by requiring employers to include additional information in the sharps injury log. More specifically, employers are required to record the exposed worker's job classification, a description of the procedure that was performed when the injury occurred, and the injured employee's suggestions for future preventative measures.

Your Committees believe that the procedures required by this measure will help to establish safer working conditions for health care workers.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Adding language to the purpose section regarding the recent amendments to the federal Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act and federal rules adopted thereunder;

(2) Adding an exemption from the recordkeeping for three years for the use of a drug or biologic that is in a pre-filled syringe; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments to comport with proper drafting.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 790, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 790, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services and Labor,

____________________________

BOB NAKATA, Chair

____________________________

DAVID MATSUURA, Chair