Sharps disposal and clinical waste

What it is

What is held on sharps is a needlestick prevention poster from the hospital's Infection Prevention and Control department, and its own line carries the whole of it: sharps safety starts with you.

What gives that line its weight is on the pages beside it, where the exposure it is meant to prevent is defined and its risk set out. Occupational exposure is defined as a percutaneous exposure, that is a needlestick or a cut with a sharp object, or a mucous membrane exposure through eye, nose and mouth, or a non-intact skin exposure through skin that is chapped, abraded or afflicted with dermatitis, to blood or body fluids, that occurs during the course of an individual's employment.

It mainly applies to health care workers in health care settings. But other workers may also be exposed, and waste disposal workers are named among them, together with emergency rescue staff, law enforcement personnel and fire fighters. So the needle is still a risk after it is out of your hand.