Needlestick Injuries and Other Body Substance Exposures Among Police Officers in a City Police Department

Details

• Personal Author:
  De Perio, Marie A. ; Groenewold MR ; Victory, Kerton R.
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: We determined the incidence and circumstances of needlestick injuries and other body substance exposures among police officers in a city police department. METHODS: We analyzed data extracted from the city's centralized human resource database on all incidents from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2016, and characterized their circumstances. We calculated the annual incidence of needlestick injuries per 1,000 officers and per 10,000 reactive calls. We ran a Poisson regression model to determine the trend in the annual incidence over time. RESULTS: We found 13 needlestick injuries and 37 additional body substance exposures involving city police officers. Needlestick injuries most commonly occurred during pat-down searches and searches of property or vehicles; 9 source persons tested positive for hepatitis C. The annual incidence of needlestick injuries ranged from 0-5.1 per 1,000 police officers and from 0-2.5 per 10,000 reactive calls for service without a significant trend. Most body substance exposures consisted of spitting, human bites, and other contact with blood. No incidents reportedly led to transmission of bloodborne viruses. CONCLUSIONS: Although these appear to be rare events, police officers in this department are at risk for needlestick injuries and other body substance exposures. We recommended engineering, administrative, and personal protective equipment control improvements. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Blood Blood-Borne Pathogens Body Fluids Environmental Exposure Hematologic Diseases Law Enforcement Needlestick Injuries Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Sharps Injuries Bloodborne Diseases Bloodborne Pathogens Bloodborne Viruses Body Fluids Exposure Levels Hepatitis C Injuries Law Enforcement Law Enforcement Officer LEO Needlestick Injuries Personal Protection Personal Protective Equipment Police Police Officers PPE Risk Factors Sharps Surveillance

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• ISSN:
  0196-6553
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; OD - Office of the Director
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  294-297
• Volume:
  47
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20053422
• Citation:
  Am J Infect Control 2019 Mar; 47(3):294-297
• Contact Point Address:
  Marie A. de Perio, MD, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1090 Tusculum Ave, R-9, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  mdeperio@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services
• 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-512:6f5ab088349abc06a945a613e71acd3e1de2485fda4dddc7b8939931e0cf0c4e5cd9c20ffdcfd40ec1535b2d8973a1d26267bf15fdf89878ef038ffe19a7af4d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/216178/cdc_216178_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 291.07 KB ]