Drugstore chain Rite Aid has agreed to implement a program to better protect employees, including front-end customer service staff, against hazards related to bloodborne pathogens at all its approximately 370 stores in New Jersey and New York.
The agreement follows an investigation opened by the Buffalo office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in April 2022 after a retail employee in Niagara Falls was instructed to clean up spilled blood in February 2022 following a customer injury.
OSHA said it learned that before the incident, the employee had not been offered a hepatitis B vaccine and that Rite Aid lacked an appropriate exposure control plan, in violation of federal regulations. OSHA cited the retail drugstore chain for corresponding violations of the agency’s bloodborne pathogens standard.
Initially, Rite Aid Corp. contested the citations. In a settlement agreement with OSHA, the company will pay an amended $10,000 fine ad withdraw its notice of contest.
Rite Aid has not admitted any wrongdoing but has taken remedial actions at all New Jersey and New York stores including implementing an exposure control plan for retail employees who may be required to handle blood or other potentially infectious materials at work and train these employees about bloodborne hazards.
The company will also offer a hepatitis B vaccination at no cost to all retail employees who may be required to handle or be exposed to blood or potentially infectious materials.
Based in Philadelphia, Rite Aid Corp. operates more than 2,300 retail pharmacies in 17 states.
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