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Committee hears testimony on bill to require surgical smoke evacuation policies
Summary
The House Health Policy Committee heard testimony on HB 4779, which would require health facilities to adopt policies for surgical smoke evacuation; nurses described daily exposure to plume they said can contain toxic chemicals and particles that standard surgical masks do not filter.
The House Health Policy Committee heard testimony on House Bill 4779 on surgical smoke on Feb. 19, 2025. The bill would require hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers to develop and implement policies to use smoke evacuation systems during smoke-generating procedures, while allowing facilities flexibility on product choice and policy details.
Representative Wenzel, the bill sponsor, framed the proposal as a worker-safety measure to address surgical smoke plume produced when surgeons use electrocautery, lasers or other heat-generating instruments. "This bill simply requires health facilities performing these procedures to develop and implement a policy for using smoke evacuation systems," the sponsor said.
Witnesses from industry and clinical practice described the hazard. Ben Frederick of Stryker demonstrated a…
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