The Health and Safety Authority is trying to establish whether hospitals across the State have proper infection-control policies in place to prevent staff being exposed to infections such as MRSA.
It has written to the Health Service Executive seeking details of any hospital which has not carried out an assessment of the risks to which workers could be exposed by "biological agents". The move follows complaints to the HSA about the prevalence of MRSA in hospitals.
Details of the letter emerged in a reply to a Dáil question from Fine Gael TD Fergus O'Dowd.
Minister of State for Labour Affairs Tony Killeen, in his reply, said that the HSA was looking at the potential exposure of workers in hospitals to biohazards which might adversely affect their safety, health or welfare.
"In this regard, the authority is focusing on the existence and implementation of comprehensive infection-control policies as part of the overall safety management system of workplaces where there may be a risk of workers' exposure to biological agents," he wrote. "Such infection-control policies must take account of all biological agents that may be present and, in particular, focus on those organisms that are of primary concern, including methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, legionella, hepatitis B, HIV, mycobacterium tuberculosis, TB and streptococcus pyrogenes."
"I am also advised by the HSA that . . . it recently requested the HSE to identify those hospitals, if any, under the control of the executive that are not in possession of a written site-specific risk assessment for exposure to biological agents at work . . . Any hospitals that are so identified will be subject to inspection by the authority's inspectorate and, where necessary, consideration will be given to appropriate enforcement action."