Industrial News: June 2010

Urgent action needed in preventing sharps injuries

The ANF has joined an alliance calling for urgent action to prevent needlestick injuries in the workplace. The alliance includes the Australian Infection Control Association, Medical Technology Association of Australia, Royal College of Nursing Australia and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.

It has been estimated that at least 18,000 nurses and other health care employees suffer needlestick and sharps injuries each year. Underreporting of needlestick injuries is common with estimates ranging from 40 to 80%.

These figures were confirmed by an occupational exposures survey completed by ANF members in 2008. In the survey, 43.5% of nurses ranked needles and sharps as a high risk hazard in their workplace. Only stress and manual handling ranked higher. Eleven percent of survey respondents had received one or more needlestick or other sharps injury within the previous 12 months.

Of those surveyed 38% did not report the incidents to their employer because they did not think the injury was significant enough to report. Other reasons included feeling concerned about being blamed for unsafe work practices, and heavy workloads not allowing time to report the injury.

Needlestick injuries can result in great stress for injured nurses and their families, with the potential to contract life-threatening blood borne diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV/AIDS.

Several overseas governments, including the US, Canada and Europe, have introduced rules providing for the mandatory use of needleless devices in workplaces.

The alliance is calling on federal and state governments to introduce nationally consistent rules to combat needlestick and sharps injuries in Australia, including the mandatory use of safety engineered devices and the education of health care workers. The ANF will also lobby federal, state and territory governments for funding to assist health facilities to introduce needleless access devices. A copy of the Consensus Statement endorsed by the alliance is on the ANF website.

Andrew McCarthy
ANF Federal Industrial Officer