Standards and Definitions

In the United States the standards for protecting workers of all kinds against health hazards related to bloodborne pathogens are codified by the United State Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

The OSHA standard is 29 CFR 1910.1030

It defines several key terms that are key to our understanding:

• Blood means human blood, human blood components, and products made from human blood.
• Bloodborne Pathogens means pathogenic microorganisms that are present in human blood and can cause disease in humans.
• Contaminated means the presence or the reasonably anticipated presence of blood or other potentially infectious materials on an item or surface
• Sterilize means the use of a physical or chemical procedure to destroy all microbial life including highly resistant bacterial endospores.
• Universal Precautions is an approach to infection control. According to the concept of Universal Precautions, all human blood and certain human body fluids are treated as if known to be infectious for HIV, HBV, and other bloodborne pathogens.
• Pathogens are microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites that can cause disease.

The standard also contains a lot of technical, operational data for workplaces that are not relevant for our purposes. As such, I’d recommend you take a class (either online or in-person) from a reputable provider to get just the parts of the standard that are important to you.

Blood

What is blood? Blood is a fluid that is circulated throughout your body and is necessary to sustain life and for all tissue to be healthy.

Blood is chemically very complex, but for our purposes can be broken down into two basic components:

1. Plasma
   1. Red blood cells (erythrocytes): carries oxygen and nutrients away from the heart to the body’s tissues via arteries. They also carry carbon dioxide and other waste away from the tissues via the veins.
   2. White blood cells (leukocytes): Help fight infections and aid in the immune process.
2. Platelets (thrombocytes): These are tiny cells that group together to form clumps or clots that function to stop the escape of blood from a blood vessel.

Blood cells are made in our bones, in the spongy material in the center of our bones called bone marrow. Other systems in our bodies, such as the lymph nodes, spleen, and liver help regulate blood cell production.

Other Potentially Infectious Materials