How to Effectively Minimize Risk of Workplace Injury While Meeting OSHA and CDC Guidelines

If OSHA were to show up at your dental practice tomorrow, would you be compliant with their regulations? Many practices cannot answer that question, and for some, they will find out the hard way through a penalty. The cost of these penalties rises year-over-year. As of January 15, 2024, receiving one violation from OSHA could cost a dental practice $16,131. Failure to abate that violation can lead to a $16,131 daily penalty beyond the abatement date.  

However, the situation can easily escalate. Should your dental practice fail to comply with OSHA and CDC regulations, you may not only face potential penalties and fines but could also be vulnerable to lawsuits from patients or employees.

What should you do if you aren’t sure your office is in compliance?

With the proper mindset, communication, and products, dental practices can be confident in their compliance, and in return, dental staff will minimize their risk of injury. There are many resources through the OSHA and CDC websites that will point dental practitioners in the right direction toward being compliant.

Get started with the OSHA and CDC websites, which offer great resources and information on what these requirements entail:

• OSHA Dentistry Standards
• CDC Guidelines and Recommendations.

Learn, lead, and educate

One of the first steps toward compliance in the dental industry is to take some time to learn the standards that are out there. Cutting corners when it comes to dental office safety is not recommended, because of the severity of the penalties and—more importantly—the risks that may affect the business, staff, and patients.

It does not have to be a manager, or the owner of the practice, to take the lead in providing a safe working environment. Many dental practices choose one person to be the leader in safety and facilitator of the OSHA and CDC guidelines. That person becomes the on-site subject matter expert and can educate the dental team on why things should be done a certain way and how to do them effectively.

Meeting the requirements of OSHA and CDC may take some time to implement, but it will assist you in providing a safe environment for your team and patients—not to mention a competitive advantage.

Implementing Zirc products is an easy, colorful, and efficient way dental practices can meet the OSHA and CDC guidelines, along with enhancing procedure organization and efficiency in the process.

Here are a few ways you can ensure your office is CDC and OSHA compliant—and how Zirc can help.

1. Implement instrument cassettes for proper infection control.

While it’s important to read and understand the safety and sterilization requirements for your team—sterile doesn’t have to mean stainless. Zirc’s dental instrument cassettes comply with the CDC requirements, are made in the USA with quality glass-filled resin, and are significantly more affordable than their stainless-steel equivalents. They provide the “contained” requirement described in the CDC excerpt below, to offer protection for the dental staff during sterilization and transporting from room to room.

CDC guideline highlight:

Dirty Instruments must be “contained” prior to transporting them. Containment can be defined as instrument cassettes or cages in which dental care items are cleaned, sterilized, and stored until point of use. Sharp instruments should not be carried openly to the instrument processing area. Percutaneous injuries may occur to other dental healthcare personnel (DHCP) or patients in hallways leading to the instrument-processing area.

Read the full CDC guidelines here.

While pouching instruments is a popular way to sterilize and transport, once the procedure is completed, there is nothing protecting the staff from exposed and contaminated instruments. This poses a major problem, because a potential poke from a sharp instrument or needle may transmit a bloodborne pathogen, which could lead to the spread of disease. Cue the visit from OSHA or the CDC. If your practice is not current with OSHA and CDC requirements, then you and your practice may be liable to a patient or employee lawsuit in addition to the penalties and fines from the regulatory organizations.

Don’t put yourself, your team, or your patients through that mental anguish. When you utilize Zirc’s colorful instrument cassettes, the requirements are met for proper infection control. Along with this benefit comes the ability to identify, organize, and streamline your dental procedures and these colorful cassettes have even been shown to extend the life of your instruments.

Color-coding provides instant recognition to procedure items and keeps setup together from chairside to sterilization. The advantage of color-coding, combined with the confidence in health safety can boost dental team morale, increase productivity, reduce waste and the possibility for injury—ultimately providing the opportunity for a safer (and more profitable) practice. Plus, it looks professional, sanitary, and fun — which appeals to patients and enhances their experience as well.

For product information and how to utilize color coding in your dental practice, visit our website and download a free Color Method Manual or schedule a demo.

2. Zirc’s Safe-Lok System prevents cross-contamination.

The Safe-Lok Tray and Tub System is the optimal way to securely transport contaminated items from chairside to sterilization. Not only do the Safe-Lok clear tray covers allow at-a-glance organization and preparation, they also keep instruments sterile and secure during transportation. The trays and locking covers properly contain the used instruments and prevent spilling of any other procedural materials. This unique system affords dental practice’s compliance with the OSHA requirements for preventing cross-contamination, while providing safety to the dental team and patients.

OSHA guideline highlight:

Immediately or as soon as possible after use, contaminated reusable sharps shall be placed in puncture-resistant, leak-proof and labeled or color-coded containers until properly reprocessed. (To avoid spillage of contents, it is suggested that they be covered and secured prior to moving.)

Read the full OSHA standard here.

Beyond meeting the OSHA requirements, our Safe-Lok System assists in streamlining procedural performance as well. By utilizing the Safe-Lok Tray System, a dental practice can set up their instrument trays ahead of time and store them conveniently until it is time to perform. Once the procedure is completed, the locking cover is secured onto the tray and stacked in sterilization until they are ready for processing. In addition to an efficiency boost, the covers allow for stackability and dust control, keeping all items safe and secure while being stored or awaiting sterilization.

Zirc’s Tub becomes a “portable drawer” that contains procedure-specific materials for grab-and-go efficiency for every procedure, every time. With this system, ordering and inventory becomes a breeze because the bulk supply is stored out of the operatory in the sterilization area, a spare room, or closet. This improves inventory control and procedure flow, because no items are missing when it is time to perform at chairside.

Making the decision to replace your existing trays to accommodate the Safe-Lok covers is an investment, but the investment into this proper protocol will be nothing compared to the fine that you could receive for not following the OSHA requirements.

3. Consulting services to help identify and solve practice pain points.

Feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, or still not sure where to start? You’re not alone. A lot of dental professionals don’t know that there is a compliance problem until it is too late. For those offices, Zirc’s Consulting Services is the perfect place to start. Start with a demo call to get your questions answered.

Our clinical efficiency consultants can help you identify the problems and navigate the complexity of dental compliance with easy-to-implement solutions and tools, like the ones showcased above. Sounds too good to be true? There isn’t a dental office out there that couldn’t benefit from more organization, less waste, and an increase in productivity and profitability.

What does compliance look like? Making dental teams smile.

So how does it work and is it really OSHA and CDC compliant? Recently, a dental practice implemented Zirc’s color code system through our efficiency consultant program. By implementing the Safe-Lok Tray and Tub System along with cassettes and other dental instrument organizers, Dr. Coryell’s practice has felt the positive effects of being fully optimized, organized, and stocked. By utilizing Zirc products, and implementing applying Color Method principles, they are also compliant with the OSHA and CDC requirements.

Check out other great testimonials about Zirc Dental!

What now?

Helping dental teams optimize, organize, and become more efficient, all while keeping safety and compliance top-of-mind is what Zirc is all about. We know your team is busy and spread too thin. That’s why our optimization experts are here to expertly guide you and your team through the implementation of these solutions.

By consistently pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, Zirc Dental is dedicated to helping you improve your practice’s organization and safety standards.

Sign up for a 30–60-minute discovery call for you to learn more and get started optimizing (and protecting) your team today!