Purpose: The prevention of Bloodborne Pathogens (BBP) Safety Officer oversees identified occupations (e.g., military police, firefighters, and life guards) as having a reasonable possibility of contact with human blood in the performance of routine work duties, per the Base Exposure Control Plan. Barriers can be created through engineering controls, work practices, the wearing of PPE, vaccinations, and housekeeping measures to help break the chain of infection for these occupations.

General Information: The BBP program manager attends a one week, OSHA-approved specialty training class. This individual is then certified to present initial and annual refresher training for those individuals in identified occupations.

Contact Information: For more information or BBP-related training, please contact the Program Manager at (703) 784-2752.

Confined Spaces are enclosures that:

• Are large enough for an employee to enter
• have limited means of entry or exit, and
• Are not designed for continuous occupancy

Permit-required confined spaces are confined spaces that:

• May contain a hazardous or potentially hazardous atmosphere.
• May contain a material which can engulf an entrant.
• May contain walls that converge inward or floors that slope downward and taper into a smaller area which could trap or asphyxiate an entrant.
• May contain other serious physical hazards such as unguarded machines or exposed live wires.
• Must be identified by the employer who must inform exposed employees of the existence and location of such spaces and their hazards.

What to Do:

• Do not enter permit-required confined spaces without being trained and without having a permit to enter.
• Review, understand and follow employer's procedures before entering permit-required confined spaces and know how and when to exit.
• Before entry, identify any physical hazards.
• Before and during entry, test and monitor for oxygen content, flammability, toxicity or explosive hazards as necessary.
• Use employer's fall protection, rescue, air-monitoring, ventilation, lighting and communication equipment according to entry procedures.
• Maintain contact at all times with a trained attendant either visually, via phone, or by two-way radio. This monitoring system enables the attendant and entry supervisor to order you to evacuate and to alert appropriately trained rescue personnel to rescue entrants when needed.

• 29 CFR 1910.146 Permit-Required Confined Spaces
• Subpart AA?Confined Spaces in Construction
• NAVMC DIR 5100.8 Marine Corps OSH Program Manual (See Chapt 14)
• Protecting Construction Workers in Confined Spaces: Small Entity Compliance Guide (PDF). OSHA Publication 3825, (September 2015).
• Calibrating and Testing Direct-Reading Portable Gas Monitors. OSHA Safety and Health Information Bulletin (SHIBs), (September 30, 2013). Provides workers and employers guidance on calibrating and testing direct-reading portable gas monitors (hereafter, "DRPGMs" or "instruments").
• Safety and Health Topics

Program Summary: Ergonomics is the field of study that involves the application of knowledge about human capacities and limitations to the design of workplaces, jobs, tasks, tools, equipment, and the environment.

Ergonomics is essentially fitting the workplace to the worker. The primary goal of ergonomics in the workplace is to reduce the risk of injuries and illnesses (cumulative trauma disorders or CTDs) by reducing or eliminating worker exposure to work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WRMSD) hazards.

Training Requirements: Ensure newly appointed supervisors, managers, and employees receive appropriate ergonomics training.