Employer Recommendations
To protect healthcare workers from needlestick injuries, employers must provide a safe working environment that includes safer needle devices and effective safety programs.
It is necessary to train healthcare workers in the safe use and disposal of needles and sharps.
As we have already discussed, many types of needle devices are associated with needlestick injuries. These injuries can occur in many ways. Therefore, employers must consider a combination of prevention strategies. Employers should take the following steps to implement a program to reduce needlestick injuries and involve workers in this effort.
Employers should implement improved engineering controls to most effectively reduce needlestick injuries. For example:
- Eliminate the use of needle devices where safe and effective alternatives are available.
- Implement needle devices with safety features and evaluate their use to figure out which are most effective and acceptable.
Employers must also modify work practices that pose a needlestick injury hazard to make them safer. They can help eliminate dangers by changing work practices, which include the following:
- injuries due to recapping
- failing to dispose of a needle device properly
- directly passing or transferring such a device
- transferring blood or body fluids from a device into a specimen container
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
1-9. Employers should implement the use of improved _____ to most effectively reduce needlestick injuries.
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