OSHA Fines

Ever wonder what OSHA really fines facilities for violations? Most places keep that under their hat unless there is a death that occurs and the incident makes the papers. However, a recent edition of Medical Environment Weekly, published by HCPro stated that OSHA fines for a first time violation of the safety needle requirement was $394.

Designing, Implementing and Evaluating a Sharps Injury Prevention Program

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its Workbook for Designing, Implementing and Evaluating a Sharps Injury Prevention Program, a 62-page document that guides healthcare facilities in assessing safety culture and designing programs to eliminate needle and sharps injuries.

The new edition was made possible through an alliance with The Premier Safety Institute, Charlotte, NC. It incorporates feedback from eight hospitals that initiated programs based on the first edition issued in 2004. It also includes posters and tools for collecting data, evaluating devices, documenting exposure incidents, and implementing prevention devices and work practices.

For a free copy go to:
http://www.premierinc.com/safety/topics/needlestick/downloads/sharps-workbook-2008-high.pdf

Needlesticks

According to an article in the August 8th issue of the American Journal of Infection Control that was conducted by the Center for Healthcare Policy and Research and the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of California in Davis, CA, white female nurses between ages 35-44 are the most frequent demographic and occupational category for a needlestick.

The study examined Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on needlestick injuries requiring one or more days of lost work time from 1992 to 2003.Women comprised 73.3% of persons injured by needlesticks in the BLS data.