Must emergency responders be provided the Hepatitis B vaccine?

An employer must provide Hepatitis B vaccinations, or the declination form, to employees who will have occupational exposure. OSHA defines “occupational exposure” as reasonably anticipated skin, eye, mucous membrane, or parenteral contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials that may result from the performance of an employee’s duties. This would include employees whose written job descriptions or whose job duties will expose them to blood or other potentially infectious materials on the job. If all employees that will be trained on first aid and CPR are required (not volunteers) to be first responders, or will be responsible for cleaning up after an accident, then they would fall into a bloodborne pathogen (BBP) program.

If any employee responds in the workplace as a “Good Samaritan,” then the employer would be obliged to offer them the Hepatitis B series.