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Personal Protective Equipment in Healthcare Facilities Policy

MP 0172/22 - Personal Protective Equipment in Healthcare Facilities Policy (pdf 138KB)

Applicable to: This policy is applicable to all Health Service Providers.

Description: The Personal Protective Equipment in the Healthcare Facilities Policy sets out the requirements for a respiratory protection program and the appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE). The use of PPE is only effective when used in conjunction with other infection prevention strategies as described in this policy. This will assist in the prevention of patient to patient or patient to staff transmission of acute respiratory illnesses (ARI), including the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19) in Western Australian healthcare facilities (HCF). This policy focuses on protecting health care workers (HCWs) from transmissible respiratory pathogens and does not cover exposure to other workplace contaminates i.e., smoke, chemicals etc.

The advice contained in this policy, has been modified over time to adapt to the emergence of data on transmissibility and the advent of more highly transmissible variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and to allow for adoption of these requirements for other infections transmitted via the respiratory route.

This policy is a mandatory requirement under the Public Health Policy Framework pursuant to section 26(2)(c) of the Health Services Act 2016.

This policy is consistent with the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 and the following Standards:

the Australian/New Zealand Standard: Selection use and maintenance of respiratory protective equipment (AS/NZS1715:2009)
the Australian/New Zealand Standard: Single-use face masks for use in healthcare (AS/NZS 4381:2015)
the Australian/New Zealand Standard: Respiratory protective devices (AS/NZS 1716:2012)
the Australian/New Zealand Standard: Protective eyewear 1336:2014 and Prescription protective eyewear (AS/NZS 1337.6:2012)

Date of effect: 05 August 2022