Hospital Cited for Improper Disposal of Blood Samples

Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar has been cited for 20 violations of state job safety rules, including improperly disposing of blood that may have been tainted by AIDS or hepatitis, officials said Tuesday.

The hospital, which is run by Los Angeles County, was cited Monday by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health after what inspectors described as an extensive investigation of its operating room, laboratories, morgue and other areas.

State inspectors and a union official said, however, that they were not aware of any hospital worker or patient who became ill as a result of exposure to contaminated blood or other infectious wastes at the facility.

The citations are considered infractions and carry no fines or other penalties because the hospital is publicly owned. The citations require Olive View to correct its problems within a month.

Cal/OSHA spokesman Rick Rice said the number of citations “doesn’t sound terribly excessive” and that sloppy handling of infectious wastes is a very common problem at hospitals.

The probe was undertaken after Cal/OSHA received a complaint that hospital workers were being exposed to the AIDS and hepatitis viruses and were being supplied with inadequate protective equipment.

Cal/OSHA officials refused to identify the source of the complaint, but a hospital administrator said it was filed by a county employee who works at Olive View and other county medical facilities.

The citations against the hospital were for not properly covering waste containers in the facility’s “stat lab,” where emergency blood and urine analyses are performed.

State officials said they saw blood spattered under the lids of the containers, which are used to dispose of syringes, smeared lab slides and other materials.

A union official who accompanied state inspectors at the hospital last winter described the lab as “really disgusting” and said so much blood was spattered around the containers that the area looked like “some comedy horror movie.”

”. . . You could tell they never cleaned them,” said Michael Pirkkala, business agent for Service Employees International Union Local 660, which represents 1,150 nurses, medical technicians and other Olive View workers. Most of the container lids were stuck in the open position, he said.

Pirkkala said propping the lids open “totally defeats the purpose” of using sealed containers to dispose of infectious waste. In one lab area, he said he saw wastes overflowing the containers onto the floor.

David Langness, a spokesman for the Hospital Council of Southern California, said it is common in hospitals for workers to prop open lids on waste containers because they use them so frequently.

He said the possibility of a worker becoming infected with acquired immune deficiency syndrome or hepatitis as a result of such sloppiness is low because the viruses die relatively quickly outside the body.

Cal/OSHA inspectors said they also cited the hospital for not having special eye-washing devices in the morgue and other areas where workers might be accidentally splashed with caustic chemicals.

In addition, they said, the facility had not properly registered as a user of ethylene oxide, a known cancer-causing agent that is used to sterilize surgical instruments and other reusable equipment.

Maple Gray, Olive View’s assistant administrator, said the hospital has replaced its stat-lab waste containers with new ones that have tight-fitting covers and corrected 97% of the other violations.

Olive View employs about 2,500 workers and treats an average of 230 patients per day. It was torn down after being heavily damaged in the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and was rebuilt and reopened in 1987.