During her long and illustrious career in dentistry, Linda Harvey of the Dental Compliance Institute has seen nearly everything in the dental practice. However, a recent incident that incurred a fine from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) prompted Harvey to share a common mistake made by many dental practices.
"There's an office that I know of up in the New England area where they had a complaint," Harvey recently told me. "I don't know the background on this, but the complaint centered around the fact that an employee went to the front, sat down in contaminated PPE (personal protective equipment) and started working on the computer.
Linda Harvey, MS, RDH.
"That being said, we know everybody in dentistry is good about taking off the gloves, so I'm sure the gloves were off. However, I would bet money on this, I'm sure the mask was probably under the chin. Everybody's reverted to that in dentistry, and it's driving me crazy. I would also bet the individual was wearing a contaminated jacket.
"We don't know why this individual was up there. Maybe she was helping out because the receptionist was on the phone or had run to the bank or the practice was short-handed and was trying to help. But whatever the reason, the PPE should have come off.
"In our practices today, we need to focus in particular on the bloodborne pathogen standard and all the other OSHA standards that apply. That incident landed them a fine of about $9,000, so we have to be compliant because noncompliance hurts the pocketbook."
Harvey is also issuing a warning about the OSHA handbook that so often just sits on the practice's shelf.
"I've seen many dentists over the years get fined for not following OSHA standards," Harvey said. "There are different levels of incomplete or missing documents. I've also gone into office after office where they've purchased an off-the-shelf binder. It might still be in the shrink wrap and it's sitting on the shelf somewhere. It's like an elf on a shelf. It's just sitting there, it's not going to support them or help to defend them if they have a complaint leveled against the practice."
This is one of 10 compliance myths and mistakes that Harvey shared with me in a recent interview. To hear the other nine, as well as Harvey's practical advice for avoiding them, simply click here to listen to our chat.
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