
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 27, 1993                   TAG: 9303270208
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BLOOD-RISK PLAN UP AND RUNNING

When Roanoke Police Chief M. David Hooper snatched a razor from a mangled man intent on killing himself, he set in motion a process designed to protect all city employees from blood-related diseases.

Hooper was required to fill out an infectious disease report.

He also was required to pack his blood-splattered tweed coat in a plastic wrap and stick it in a special container until a dry cleaner authorized to clean bloody clothing could pick it up.

"I'm not overly concerned," Hooper said. "I didn't have any open cuts."

Open cuts and needle pricks create a state of high alert for those exposed to blood, according to standards implemented last year by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

OSHA, the federal agency charged with protecting employee health and safety, required the city last year to implement programs to protect high-risk city workers from blood-related diseases such as AIDS and Hepatitis B.

The city budgeted more than $80,000 to buy protective equipment and provide vaccinations for those who face risk of exposure.

Although Hooper had no open cuts, his hands and arms were exposed to a significant amount of blood. He cleaned the blood from his skin immediately with a disinfectant.

The city's procedure recognizes that police officers are a high-risk group for exposure to blood. The same applies to nurses, rescue workers, firefighters, social workers and jailers.

Since August, about 85 employees have been exposed to blood - 50 of them through cuts and needle sticks or in their eyes, noses or mouths, which are high-risk points of entry for blood-related diseases.

Of the 85 blood-exposed employees, 63 were police officers. Thirty-three of those exposures were at the high-risk level.

Hooper, who downplayed his own exposure, is concerned about the number of blood exposure reports he sees from his officers.

"There are a lot more than anybody realizes," Hooper said. "They come in . . . almost every day. Sometimes there are two or three."

While the department furnishes safety equipment such as latex gloves, the urgency of police work often does not lend itself to using safety equipment.

"The result is that they get blood on them," Hooper said.

by CNB