Water

[C-lion]

Where you work, are you allowed to have water (in a covered container) at your workstation?

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

Liquids can spill which is why liquids must have a lid. OSHA doesn't prohibit beverages at Nursing stations, just in "patient care" areas.

The Mass dept of health doesn't prohibit beverages at Nursing stations either:

"Drinks are permitted in the nursing station in the low anterior spaces as long as they are in areas where they can not be contaminated e.g.

where specimens are left for transport. Drinks are not allowed in the

hallway e.g. on carts, shelves, etc. "

http://mghpcs.org/RR/Documents/resource_guide_PCSlicensedstaff.pdf

I wouldn't suggest you argue with a surveyor when he tells you drinks at the nurses' station are not allowed!

[MunoRN, RN]

I wouldn't suggest you argue with a surveyor when he tells you drinks at the nurses' station are not allowed!

Mass General doesn't seem to have a problem saying covered beverages at the Nurses station doesn't violate Mass dept of health rules, and I have to assume they have enough experience with the Mass dept of health to know if that's not the case.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

OSHA doesn't prohibit covered beverages at a Nursing station, so long as it is an area where exposure to blood or other infectious pathogens due to proximity to these substances is unlikely.

https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=INTERPRETATIONS&p_id=25506

And all your management has to do is declare the nursing station an area where exposure IS likely "because lab specimens go there to be sent to the lab" or whatever other reason they choose. And then covered beverages CAN be prohibited.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

OSHA prohibits drinks in "patient care areas," which can be interpreted pretty much any way management chooses. The break room is not a patient care area -- or is it? When the families of long term patients are invited by some nurses into the break room to partake of our potluck, it becomes a patient care area. (I have colleagues who really bond with families.) So technically, we can't have food or drink in our break room as long as some nurses are inviting visitors in.

The nurse's station could easily be defined as a non-patient-care area, but our Surgical Director hates to see nurses with coffee or water. He threw out my Starbuck's one afternoon. The next day, when I found HIM rounding with a cup of coffee, that cup of coffee magically disappeared. I've learned that when I have my Starbuck's at the desk, I hide it behind the computer, and instead of putting my name on it, I put a symbol. That way he can't pull it out from behind the computer and dress me down in public.

It's funny, though, how that surgeon's coffee keeps disappearing from wherever he leaves it . . . .

I love this!!! It's exactly what I would do as well :)

[MunoRN, RN]

And all your management has to do is declare the nursing station an area where exposure IS likely "because lab specimens go there to be sent to the lab" or whatever other reason they choose. And then covered beverages CAN be prohibited.

As I pointed out earlier employers often have stricter rules than OSHA or state health departments, which many Nurses incorrectly interpret as being what OSHA requires.

If you keep unprotected lab samples at you Nursing station then yes, you shouldn't have beverages there, although mine and at least a few other states require a designated area for lab samples awaiting transport that is separate from other activities.