About This Course and What an Illness Prevention Program Covers

This course is for health, safety and environment (HSE), facilities and human resources (HR) managers who set up or run a program to stop illness spreading at work. It is aligned with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules that touch workplace hygiene, mainly the sanitation standard in Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations (29 CFR 1910.141), and with public guidance from OSHA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

An illness prevention program is the planned set of facilities, controls, rules and habits that keeps infectious illness from starting or spreading among workers, contractors and visitors. It is not a medical service. It is a management system, like any other safety program, with a written plan, named owners, training and regular review.

What is left to other courses

Some infection topics have their own standards or their own depth, so this course only points to them. Blood and other potentially infectious materials are covered in the Bloodborne Pathogens Awareness (OSHA 1910.1030) course. Legionella in water systems is covered in the Water Hygiene and Legionella Control course. Fitness for work and health surveillance are in the Occupational Health Fundamentals course, and the full method for deciding whether an illness goes on the OSHA log is in the OSHA Injury and Illness Recordkeeping course.