OAR 333-018-0035: Procedures Involving Emergency Response Employees

(1) Each person or local government employing persons to render emergency care shall designate a contact person or "designated officer" to receive reports from the local public health administrator made under ORS 433.006. The employer shall assure that the designated officer has sufficient training to carry out the duties as described below, which shall include appropriate procedures for follow-up after occupational exposures to specific diseases as specified below in section (2) and section (6). (2) Sections (3) through (5) apply only to the following subset of reportable diseases: meningococcal disease, infectious pulmonary or laryngeal tuberculosis, diphtheria, plague (Yersinia pestis), rabies, hemorrhagic fevers (for example, Lassa, Marburg, and Ebola). (3) Health care providers and health care facilities shall, when reporting this subset of diseases, determine and include as part of their report whether or not an emergency care provider was involved in pre-hospital care for this disease. (4) Health care providers and facilities shall report to the local public health administrator and may relay the diagnosis of these diseases directly to the emergency care providers or the designated officer specified below in section (5), but shall not disclose the identity or addresses of the person having the disease or otherwise refer specifically to the person. (5) Upon receiving a report of a reportable disease as defined in section (2) above, the designated officer shall notify all out-of-hospital caregivers, including but not limited to: first responders, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, firefighters, law enforcement officers, corrections officers, probation officers, or other current or former personnel of the employer who may have been exposed to the reportable disease. The designated officer shall inform the personnel only of the reportable disease and the fact of possible exposure and the appropriate follow-up procedures. The designated officer shall not inform the personnel of the identity or addresses of the individual having the reportable disease or otherwise refer specifically to the individual having the reportable disease. (6) In the event of an occupational exposure to a bloodborne pathogen as defined by ORS 433.060, the designated officer shall also assist the exposed worker as defined in ORS 433.060 in implementing the provisions of ORS 433.065 through ORS 433.080 and associated Authority rules (chapter 333, division 22). These rules include provisions for determining HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C status of the source patient and soliciting HIV testing after an occupational exposure.