(The Center Square) — Washington Department of Corrections failed to provide workers with N-95 respirator fit testing during the worst tuberculosis outbreak in the state in 20 years and will be fined $84,400, the Department of Labor & Industries announced Monday.
An investigation by L&I found that workers at the Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen, the epicenter of the outbreak, had not received training and testing on the proper use of N-95 respirators, according to an L&I statement.
Fit testing is necessary to ensure the respirators fit properly and provide protection.
The investigation was prompted by complaints.
Stafford Creek Corrections Center did not return a call requesting the number of incarcerated persons and staff infected with tuberculosis. However, the outbreak in Washington has been described as the worst in recent history.
“Thus far in 2022, 175 new cases of TB have been reported in Washington,” Emily Fredenberg of the DOH told The Center Square via email. “This has been the state’s largest outbreak in the last 20 years.”
The total number of cases reported in 2021 was 199.
The outbreak was detected earlier this year at the Aberdeen facility, according to DOC Chief Medical Officer MaryAnn Curl.
“Testing of staff, and our incarcerated population at Stafford Creek Correction Center continues, which is how these cases were found,” she said in April.
The incidence of tuberculosis infection in prisons is 5 to 70 times higher than in communities, according to the United States Agency for International Development. Inmates are at greater risk due to their close, prolonged indoor confinement with other inmates and because inmates often come from sectors of the population where TB infection rates are higher, USAID said in a report.
In a separate finding, the Stafford Creek center was fined in 2021 for not enforcing COVID-19 social distancing and mask procedures for employees, according to L&I.
The DOC has 15 business days to appeal the current L&I ruling. Any money received through fines is placed in the workers’ compensation supplemental pension fund, which is used to help injured workers and families of those who died on the job.
