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Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS)

Exposure to Blood/Infectious Material

Reference Number: MTAS-1986
Reviewed Date: 12/21/2022

OSHA regulation 29 C.F.R. § 1904.8 (a) requires employers to record all work-related needle stick injuries and cuts from sharp objects that are contaminated with another person’s blood or other potentially infectious materials as defined by 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1030. Other potentially infectious materials include human bodily fluids, tissues and organs; and other materials infected with the HIV or hepatitis B (HBV) virus, such as laboratory cultures or tissues from experimental animals. 29 C.F.R. § 1904.8(b)(1). You must enter the case on the OSHA 300 Log as an injury. To protect the employee’s privacy, you may not enter the employee’s name on the OSHA 300 Log. If a recorded injury results in a later diagnosis of an infectious blood borne disease, you must update the classification of the case on the OSHA 300 Log if it results in death, days away from work, restricted work, or job transfer. You must also update the description to identify the infectious disease and change the classification of the case from an injury to an illness.

If an employee is splashed or exposed to blood or other potentially infectious material without being cut or scratched, you must record the incident on the OSHA 300 Log as an illness if it results in the diagnosis of a blood borne illness such as HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C; or if it results in death, days away from work, work restrictions, or job transfer. Otherwise it is not recorded. 29 C.F.R. § 1904.8(b)(4).

You are not required to record all cuts, lacerations, punctures and scratches. Only those injuries that are work-related and involve contamination with another person’s blood or other potentially infectious materials must be recorded. If a cut, laceration or scratch involves a clean object or a contaminant other than blood or other potentially infectious material, you need to record the case only if it results in death, days away from work, work restrictions, job transfer, medical treatment, or loss of consciousness. 29 C.F.R. § 1904.8(b)(2).