#1 Sharps Safety: Protecting Healthcare Workers

Welcome to Issue #1 of Waste Matters – our theme for this month is Sharps Safety.

What’s in this issue?

·???????How to protect healthcare workers from sharps injuries.

·???????Deep Dive: Royal College of Nursing Sharps Safety Guidance.

·???????8 Reasons to report a needlestick injury.

Protecting healthcare workers

?With at least 100,000 (known) needlestick injuries occurring across the NHS each year, it’s crucial we all do everything we can to make healthcare safer.

?The “Sharps Safety Guidance” recently published by the Royal College of Nursing mentions an effective framework for protecting healthcare workers from the risks associated with sharps and related equipment…

The hierarchy of controls.

This framework enables teams to identify and implement the most effective ways to control workplace hazards and keep workers safe:

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·???????Elimination or substitution?–?Eliminate unnecessary injections and use safer alternatives to sharps-related equipment.

·???????Engineering controls?–?Safer needle devices and sharps containers.

·???????Administrative controls?–?Introducing safety policies and training programmes.

·???????Work practice controls?–?Changing staff behaviours and introducing standard precautions.

·???????PPE?–?Protecting healthcare workers with personal protective equipment.?

?Learn more about How to Protect Healthcare Workers and create a safer sharps management process within the healthcare environment by reading our blog which highlights details on how to apply the hierarchy of controls in your facility.

Deep Dive: Royal College of Nursing Sharps Safety Guidance

Speaking of the Royal College of Nursing, we recently partnered with them in a webinar to discuss needlestick injuries and dig deeper into their Sharps Safety Guidance:

?We could write a whole publication on what was discussed, but considering the RCN already did that, we decided instead to give you the option to watch it on demand:

?Watch the Sharps Safety Guidance Webinar on Demand.

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8 Reasons to report a needlestick injury

All healthcare workers deserve a culture of transparency and open communication around needlestick injuries – the confidence to report them without any blame or shame.

NSIs are NOT a sign of incompetence or negligence and reporting them shows a commitment to ensuring patient and staff safety.

Here are 8 reasons to report a needlestick injury…

·???????Swift Medical Attention

·???????Early Detection of Bloodborne Infections

·???????Access to Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP)

·???????Protection of Healthcare Workers

·???????Improved Workplace Safety

·???????Promotion of a Culture of Safety

·???????Compliance with Legal Requirements

·???????Eligibility for Compensation

Time should never have to be a determining factor for reporting an injury, but unfortunately, it often is.

Time, or more accurately, a lack of it, is one of the biggest obstacles to reporting a sharps injury.

Despite this, it’s crucial to make the time to report any sharps injury you sustain – you deserve access to the help you may need as soon as possible, it can make a big difference.

Learn more about the reasons you should ALWAYS report ANY needlestick injury by reading our full blog on this subject which examines each of the reasons in more depth.

What’s coming in the next issue?

We hope you found this issue helpful – the theme for our August issue is Net Zero Healthcare where we’ll be looking at:

·???????A method for reducing single-use plastic in healthcare.

·???????How offensive waste drives sustainability in healthcare.

·???????17 Questions to ask when procuring sustainably.

We’d welcome any feedback on topics and themes you’d like to see in future issues.

If you enjoyed the content in this newsletter, please consider joining our Network for Healthcare Heroes, we expand on content like this in more depth, as well as provide free resources and guidance on all things healthcare waste.

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