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Barbara Erwin
Phone: (909) 607-0160
Email: barbara_erwin[at symbol]kgi.edu
Jose Salazar
Phone: (909) 607-0396
Email: jose_salazar[at symbol]kgi.edu
Bloodborne Pathogen Program
Purpose
The Bloodborne Pathogens Program (BPP) at Keck Graduate Institute is required by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to provide the fundamentals of bloodborne pathogens, common modes of their transmission, methods of prevention, and other relevant information to all researchers, students, faculty and staff working in laboratories with potentially infectious agents. The Bloodborne Pathogens Program implemented at KGI has been designed to meet the requirements of OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogen Standard: 29 CFR 1910.1030
Exposure Control Plan
The Bloodborne Pathogen Standard has numerous requirements, including the development of an Exposure Control Plan. The Exposure control plan is the employer's written program that outlines the protective measures an employer will take to eliminate or minimize employee exposure blood or other potential infectious materials (OPIM).
The exposure control plan 
must include at a minimum:
- An exposure determination which identifies job classifications and, in some cases, tasks and procedures where there is occupational exposure to blood and Other Potential Infectious Material (OPIM).
- Procedures for evaluating the circumstances surrounding an exposure incident; and
- A schedule of how and when other provisions of the standard will be implemented, including methods of compliance, communication hazards to employees, and recordkeeping.
Training
Bloodborne Pathogen training at KGI is required upon commencing work in a lab that involves blood or OPIM, and requires annual refresher training. The training includes topics in regulatory compliance, general discussion on bloodborne diseases and their routes of transmission, engineering and work practice controls, signs & labels, personal protective equipment (PPE), exposure control plan, response to emergencies involving blood, how to handle exposure incidents, post-exposure evaluation follow-up, and hepatitis B vaccine.
Hepatitis B Vaccine
Under the Bloodborne Pathogen Standard, vaccination against Hepatitis B must be available to all employees, students, faculty and staff who have occupational exposure to blood at no cost to them, and at a reasonable time and place under the supervision of a licensed physician/licensed healthcare professional. Pre-screening may not be required as a condition of receiving the vaccine. Employees must sign a declination form if they choose to not be vaccinated, but may later opt to receive the vaccine at no cost.