united-states medical
Would injecting employees with thiomersal be an osha violation?
<p>The osha limit for occupational mercury exposure is 50 micrograms per cubic meter. Vaccines are way more.</p>
<p>Would injecting your employees with thiomersal be an osha violation?</p>

<p>Welcome to LSE. Here are some answers to your question:</p>
<p><strong>No! <em>It's not even close,</em> but <em>something like it is.</em></strong></p>
<ol>
<li><p>The OSHA <a href="https://www.osha.gov/Publications/mercuryexposure_fluorescentbulbs_factsheet.html#:%7E:text=The%20OSHA%20permissible%20exposure%20limit,%2Dhour%20time%2Dweighted%20average." rel="noreferrer">standard</a> you cite is for mercury in the air in the workplace. You ask about &quot;injections,&quot; which do not involve mercury in the air, so: <strong>this standard does not apply to injections.</strong></p>
</li>
<li><p>You ask about &quot;injecting your employees with thiomersal.&quot; With only a few exceptions (for those helping diabetics, etc, and emergencies), all states require that licensed health care professionals administer injections, and then, only under a prescription. (For example, thiomersal is mostly used in vaccines. All states <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4841732/#:%7E:text=In%20all%20states%2C%20RPhs%20are,of%20nurse%20in%20advanced%20practice." rel="noreferrer">require</a> licensed health professionals to administer vaccines.) So: <strong>Unless you are a licensed health professional with a prescription, you cannot inject your employees with thiomersal.</strong></p>
</li>
<li><p><strong>However,</strong> OSHA has <a href="https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/2009-11-09" rel="noreferrer">interpreted</a> its rules and regulations to allow employees to <strong>require vaccines</strong> in some circumstances, such as a pandemic. <em>To the extent these vaccines contain thiomersal</em>, <strong><em>employers can</em> require employees to get injected with thiomersal by a licensed health professional.</strong></p>
</li>
</ol>

<p>The simple answer is, no. Standards for toxic and hazardous substances are <a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=&amp;SID=62aee1090a3f7eda4a93e23da838073f&amp;mc=true&amp;r=PART&amp;n=pt29.6.1910" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>. Thiomersal is not listed, no injections into humans are regulated. It is impossible to compute the applicability of mercury regulations to your scenario because we'd have to know what the form of mercury is (read the regulations) and how much there is.</p>
