Who is at risk?
Staff:
Sharps pose a serious danger to health care staff. Providers are at risk when handling, passing, or using sharps during service delivery. Maintenance and waste-disposal staff are at risk when sharps are not properly disposed of or when waste containing sharps is mishandled. All staff of a health facility can be placed at risk if sharps are not disposed of properly. Sharps can cause injury and transmission of serious infections, including HIV and hepatitis B. If possible, all staff at risk of exposure to blood or other body fluids should be vaccinated against hepatitis B as a precaution.
Clients: Clients can be placed at risk if improperly discarded sharps are found in unexpected places, like linens.
Community:
Improper disposal of sharps poses a great threat to members of the community. Sharps that are discarded where they may be found by scavengers, children, and others may cause serious injury and infection. Everyone in the local community is at risk of the spread of infection when scavenged syringes and needles are reused.
How health care workers can become injured
Many injuries can occur when staff are using and disposing of sharps. Staff can become injured:
- While recapping hypodermic needles after use. This is one of the major causes of sharp-object injuries.
- When manipulating used sharps (bending, breaking, or cutting hypodermic needles), which can cause the blood inside to splatter or cause staff to accidentally injure themselves
- When one staff member accidentally sticks another staff member when carrying unprotected sharps
- When sharp items are found in areas where they are unexpected, such as on surgical drapes or bed linen
- When handling or disposing of waste that contains used hypodermic needles or other sharps
- When sudden movement by the client at the time of injection causes a provider to be accidentally stuck
NOTE:
Your risk of infection following a needlestick injury varies depending on the virus being transmitted. For example, the risk of infection after exposure to hepatitis B is about 20% to 30%, while the risk is 3% to 10% after exposure to hepatitis C and about 0.4% after exposure to HIV.
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