Crocs, OSHA, and you

Hi everyone, it's Scott Wallask over here at HCPro, filling in for Steve Mac, who's on the tail end of his vacation.

I figured I'd chime in because I am once again amazed at the publicity that Crocs footwear gets from the hospital industry.

Many of you probably saw an Associated Press news report this week noting that Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh had banned staff members from wearing Crocs. Proponents of the ban told the AP that the holes in Crocs could pose a safety hazard should a dropped syringe "hit the target," so to speak. Naysayers have different views on that idea.

Regardless, it reminds me of an unofficial OSHA note that made the rounds last year about Crocs.

From OSHA's informal perspective, Crocs aren't appropriate in a hospital setting if there is a reasonable expectation that blood or other potentially infectious materials could land on an employee's feet, the agency said last August is its e-mail forum.

Such exposures are likely to occur in the OR, ER, and labs, for example. The bloodborne pathogens standard requires hospitals to provide appropriate personal protective equipment.

However, OSHA also informally indicated that it's the hospital's responsibility to:

• Ascertain whether there is reasonable likelihood of exposure to blood or other fluids
• Determine what constitutes appropriate footwear in the absence of exposure to any recognized hazards

In other words, employees could wear Crocs if the hospital determined that they didn't face exposures on the job to blood and other bodily fluids.

So, the debate rages . . . over shoes.