CO HB1041

Hospitals with surgical services and ambulatory surgical centers licensed in Colorado must adopt and implement a policy preventing human exposure to surgical smoke by May 1, 2021.

The policy must use a surgical smoke evacuation system during any planned surgical procedure likely to generate surgical smoke.

Surgical smoke is defined as gaseous by-products from energy-generating devices including surgical plume, smoke plume, bio-aerosols, laser-generated airborne contaminants, or lung-damaging dust.

A surgical smoke evacuation system must capture and neutralize surgical smoke at the point of origin before it contacts the eyes or respiratory tract of room occupants.

The requirements apply to all surgical procedures in hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers performed on or after May 1, 2021.