Needlestick injuries - a constant threat to healthcare workers

As October is National Safe Work Australia month, the risk of needlestick and sharps injuries has been highlighted with a call to mandate the use of safety engineered devices.

The Alliance for Sharps Safety and Needlestick Injury Prevention in Healthcare  is calling on State and Federal jurisdictions to mandate the use such devices.

Sharps and needlestick injury incidents in Australia affect at least 18,000 healthcare workers, including dental personnel) each year. Needlestick or sharps injury can cause healthcare worker exposure to potentially life threatening bloodborne diseases such as hepatitis B or C or HIV. Injuries cause great stress for healthcare workers and their families and they generate significant avoidable cost for the Australian healthcare system.

Alliance Chair Professor Cathryn Murphy said: “The Alliance partners believe that every
needlestick or sharps injury at work is a foreseeable hazard to healthcare workers. Prevention of injury should be regarded as reasonably practicable, moreover it should be a fundamental
principle of occupational health and safety legislation”.