LifeFleet LLC in North Lima, Ohio is facing serious charges from OSHA because of its negligence in not preparing workers for encounters with hazardous materials. The company provides ambulance services, thereby exposing its employees to disease and/or harm. The company did not provide adequate protections from things such as blood borne pathogens and other communicable diseases. Because of this, they were issued 14 separate citations.
The company handles emergency, non-emergency, and critical care ambulance rides in addition to wheelchair transport services. This potentially exposes employees to any number of diseases. A proper safety program would include existing protocols for medical treatment post-exposure along with prevention efforts such as providing personal protective equipment and mandating washing or changing clothes immediately after any kind of exposure. LifeFleet provided none of these to its employees, leaving them in a position to be seriously harmed by contagions that travel easily through bodily fluids.
Had the company used safety software, they would have seen the need for these preventive efforts immediately. A software solution such as Quantum’s Job Hazard Analysis Module tracks illness and injury trends over time. Analysis by company management would have revealed areas to be improved. Quantum’s Training Module also would have been incredibly helpful in preventing some of these citations and improving overall working conditions at LifeFleet. The company failed to provide adequate training for the handling of germs, chemicals, and bodily fluids – they would have been prompted to do so, and reminded if training was overdue, by the Training Module.
