Disposal of sharps medical waste in the United States: impact of recommendations and regulations, 1987-2007

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gomaa, Ahmed ; Jagger J ; Parker G ; Perry J ; Phillips EK
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: To gauge the impact of regulatory-driven improvements in sharps disposal practices in the United States over the last 2 decades, we analyzed percutaneous injury (PI) data from a national surveillance network from 2 periods, 1993-1994 and 2006-2007, to see whether changes in disposal-related injury patterns could be detected. METHODS: Data were derived from the EPINet Sharps Injury Surveillance Research Group, established in 1993 and coordinated by the International Healthcare Worker Safety Center at the University of Virginia. For the period 1993-1994, 69 hospitals contributed data; the combined average daily census for the 2 years was 24,495, and the total number of PIs reported was 7,854. For the period 2006-2007, 33 hospitals contributed data; the combined average daily census was 6,800, and the total number of PIs reported was 1901. RESULTS: In 1992-1993, 36.8% of PIs reported were related to disposal of sharp devices. In 2006-2007, this proportion was 19.3%, a 53% decline. CONCLUSIONS: This comparison provides evidence that implementation of point-of-use, puncture-resistant sharps disposal containers, combined with large-scale use of safety-engineered sharp devices, has resulted in a marked decline in sharps disposal-related injury rates in the United States. The protocol for removing and replacing full sharps disposal containers remains a critical part of disposal safety. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Hazardous Substances Health Personnel Needlestick Injuries Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-prevention Health-care-personnel Health-hazards Injuries Injury-prevention Medical-personnel Needlestick-injuries Statistical-analysis Surveillance-programs Workers
• ISSN:
  0196-6553
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  354-358
• Volume:
  40
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20040815
• Citation:
  Am J Infect Control 2012 May; 40(4):354-358
• Contact Point Address:
  Jane Perry, MA, IHWSC, PO Box 800764, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908-0764
• Email:
  janeperry@virginia.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Infection Control
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:145d8a4efe8728cf8081ff12b7a96ff19685e1abf561d58338e89a4d7e8802cc047c3159593f5d48eeb694671344de9cea2bed992d710bf3cdc105ac9d14849e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/193544/cdc_193544_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 434.00 KB ]