Safer sharps disposal

Message from our Health and Safety Team:

The dangers of sharps such as needles and scalpels are now well known and should be an area where we have no issues in relation to unsafe disposal.  

In recent months within our Trust there has been an increase on incidents related to medical sharps. There has been at least two incidents recently where unsafe disposal could have had very serious consequences.  One needle was put into a hazardous waste bag and injured the domestic who removed the waste.  

Adequate sharps boxes should be available and they should be brought to the sharp for immediate disposal after use.

ALL sharps need to be reviewed and if a safer product is not available either the product or process requires a risk assessment. Risk assessments are important, if an injury occurs to staff using a non safe product and risk assessments are not in place the Trust is liable in law. 

Going forward, it is vital that we review sharps in the work place.

• Please put needles or similar medical supplies into the appropriate sharps bin immediately after using them at point of care.
• Only fill the bin to where it says "Do not fill above this line".  
• All staff requiring further training must raise with their immediate manager, training records must be held locally.

Managers are asked to cascade this message through their teams and to ensure risk assessments are in place. Advice and guidance is readily available from the Health and Safety Team for all services.