HEALTH AND SAF E T Y
Sharps injuries continue to pose risk to HCWs
Kate Woodhead RGN DMS warns that healthcare workers (HCWs) are still being put at occupational risk from sharps injuries. She discusses best practice and the importance of training.
One of the most common and potentially harmful risks to healthcare workers is an infection resulting from a sharp or needlestick injury. Data are difficult to obtain since many of the serious reports also cite severe underreporting. However, the general consensus is that of the three million healthcare worker (HCW) exposures to blood pathogens through percutaneous injury, two million were exposed to hepatitis B virus (HBV), 0.9 million were exposed to hepatitis C virus (HCV) and 170,000 were exposed to HIV, of which more than 90% occurred in developing countries.1
It is repeatedly emphasised too that it is not just the three viruses to which HCWs are exposed but a cornucopia of at least twenty different pathogens, which can be transmitted via needlestick injury (NSI). A systematic review of the global prevalence identified that the incidence of NSIs is 43% of 525,798 HCWs, with the highest rate of injuries in Africa. Women were more frequently affected by NSIs than men. Hepatitis C was the disease most commonly transmitted via NSIs, at 21%. The problems have not gone away and, indeed, it is known that with staffing shortages and continuing stress within the healthcare sector, that patient safety – and I submit staff safety – is at higher risk. Awareness is usually the panacea for reducing risk and so this article, while not
reporting any new data, seeks to refresh peoples’ minds about the danger they face everyday at work, from routine simple tasks – such as drawing up or giving an injection, taking a scalpel from another hand or other high-risk process.
COVID-19 has affected mandatory annual training, which probably means that much of the education and refreshment of the risks has faded. A core tenet of occupational health and safety is that
Training should cover the biological agents that staff are exposed to, as well as the precautions they should use to protect themselves, including the use of PPE and safe methods of disposal. In addition, it is essential that staff know what procedures to follow in the event of an injury.
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everyone should expect that their workplace is a safe working environment.
Health and Safety Executive The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires that not only should employers provide a safe environment, as far as possible, but also that employees have their own responsibilities as to how they behave and their attendance at regular training, to ensure that they are best placed to reduce personal risks.
More specifically, the Health and Safety (Sharps Regulations) 20132
identify
aspects of duty under the law for healthcare employers and contractors – such as laundry workers, cleaners, waste disposal workers, bank nurses and locum doctors. Effective safe management of sharps flows from the existing health and safety legislation – which specifies the need to assess risk, provide appropriate information and training, and consult with employees. The Sharps Regulations follow the principles of the hierarchy of preventative
JANUARY 2023
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