Safety First Aid Group Laminated Sharps Disposal and Needle Stick Injuries Poster

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Images in the template can be replaced with digital photos of your own staff members and instruments taken on location at your facility. If there's a high risk of infection with HIV, your healthcare professional may consider treatment called post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Getting support

Sharps bins should not be left unattended in areas where non-healthcare workers (especially children) can access them.Sharps injuries are a well-known risk in the health and social care sector. Sharps contaminated with an infected patient's blood can transmit more than 20 diseases, including hepatitis B, C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Because of this transmission risk, sharps injuries can cause worry and stress to the many thousands who receive them. What you need to know What are sharps? Proactive sharps injury reduction strategies are required by law. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act. 1974 places responsibilities on employers to ensure (as far is practicable) the health, safety and welfare of employees. This includes providing a safe working environment in relation to sharps injuries, together with safe equipment, training and instruction on safe systems of work. An additional European directive targeted at the protection of healthcare workers was introduced in May 2010 and transposed into UK regulations The Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2003 In situations where recapping is considered necessary, develop safe approaches which workers can follow. Workers should never move an exposed needle tip towards an unprotected hand. Recap by laying the cap on a flat surface and scoop it onto the tip of a syringe held in one hand. Keep the free hand away from the sheath and well behind the exposed needle. Seek urgent medical advice (for example from your occupational health service) as effective prophylaxis (medicines to help fight infection) are available All sharps should be disposed of carefully at the point of use. This means that suitable sharps containers should be portable enough to take to the activity, and designed specifically to allow needles and sharp instruments to be disposed of easily and safely at the point of use.

if the safety mechanism is integral to the device (ie not a separate accessory) it cannot be lost or misplaced; All staff should report every incident in which they find needles or sharps left at the bedside or thrown into the regular garbage. Health and safety law applies to risks from sharps injuries, just as it does to other risks from work activities. Relevant legislation includes: In a small GP practice, generic assessments may be suitable for the small numbers of staff and activities undertaken. The healthcare professional treating you will assess the risks to your health and ask about your injury – for example, how and when it happened, or who had used the needle.

Work-practice controls - Steps that can be taken to reduce injuries include using instruments to grasps needles or load/unload scalpels, avoiding hand-to-hand passage of sharps, separating sharps from other waste, not carry garbage or linen bags close to the body, etc. The device must be easy to use and require little change of technique on the part of the health professional Ideally sharps bins should be designed to prevent overfilling and accidental spillage of contents. They should be easy to close temporarily and permanently, PHAC also refers to the CDC " Workbook for designing, implementing and evaluating a sharps injury prevention program" as an example of a program. This workbook uses a hierarchy of control approach, including: