OSHA Best Practices for Hospital Based First Receivers

Information to assist hospitals in emergency planning for incidents involving hazardous substance.

Healthcare workers risk occupational exposures to chemical, biological, or radiological materials when a hospital receives contaminated patients, particularly during mass casualty incidents. These hospital employees, who may be termed first receivers, work at a site remote from the location where the hazardous substance release occurred.1 This means that their exposures are limited to the substances transported to the hospital on victims’ skin, hair, clothing, or personal effects. The location and limited source of the contaminant distinguishes first receivers from other first responders (e.g., firefighters, law enforcement, and ambulance service personnel), who typically respond to the incident site (i.e., the Release Zone).

In order to protect their employees, hospitals benefit from information to assist them in emergency planning for incidents involving hazardous substances. Emergency first responders, at the site of the release, are covered under…