N.J. Admin. Code § 3A:56-7.7 - Health requirements for staff

(a) Before working for a home, each staff member who comes in contact with the children for the equivalent of eight hours a week or more shall submit a written statement from a licensed physician indicating that he or she is in good health and poses no health risk to persons at the home. Such statement shall be based on a medical examination conducted within the six months immediately preceding such person's association with the home.

(b) Within one year prior to or upon beginning work or having contact with the children for the equivalent of at least eight hours a week at the home, each staff member shall take a Mantoux tuberculin skin test with five TU (tuberculin units) of PPD tuberculin, except that the staff shall have a chest x-ray taken if he or she has had a previous positive Mantoux tuberculin test. The staff member shall submit to the home written documentation of the results of the test or x-ray.

1. If the Mantoux tuberculin test result is insignificant (zero to nine millimeters (mm) of induration), no further testing shall be required. The Office of Licensing, home, or agency may at any time require a staff member to retake the Mantoux tuberculin test, if there is reason to believe or suspect that the staff member may have contracted tuberculosis or if the State Department of Health recommends retesting.

2. If the Mantoux tuberculin skin test result is significant (10 or more mm of induration), the individual shall have a chest x-ray taken. If the chest x-ray shows positive results, the home or agency shall require that the staff member obtain a written statement from a physician certifying that he or she poses no threat of tuberculosis contagion before allowing the staff member to come in contact with the children. The home shall ensure that the staff member adheres to the recommended follow-up testing, if any, by the physician.

3. The home or agency shall prohibit any staff member who fails to submit satisfactory results from having contact with the children at the home until a licensed physician determines that the individual no longer poses a risk to persons in the home.

(c) The home shall maintain on file the results of each staff member's:

1. Mantoux tuberculin test or chest x-ray when indicated; and

2. Physical examination.

(d) The home or agency shall exclude a staff member who appears to be physically, emotionally or mentally impaired or who appears to have a drug-induced or alcohol-induced condition that would endanger the health, safety and well-being of the children or other staff members. The home or agency shall document the action taken to exclude the staff member and maintain such documentation in the staff member's personnel record. The home or agency shall not permit the staff member to reassume duties until the condition is no longer present.

Notes

N.J. Admin. Code § 3A:56-7.7

Administrative Change, 49 N.J.R. 98a. Amended by 50 N.J.R. 135(a), effective 1/2/2018