12 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com
been identified as a best practice for
introducing SENs and reducing sharps
injuries in hospitals, found the report.
A safety engineered needle is defined
as a hollow-bore needle that has been
designed to eliminate or minimize the
risk of a skin puncture or needlestick
injury to the worker.
There are two main types of SENs
are "passive" and "active." The safety
feature in the passive needle is
automatic, meaning it requires no
additional action on the part of the
user. For example, the needle auto-
matically retracts into the barrel of
the syringe following the injection.
The safety feature in the active needle
requires a voluntary action by the
user to engage the safety device. For
example, a flip down guard is engaged
by the user immediately following
the injection to cover the used needle
prior to disposal.
Needlestick injuries remain the
second highest concern for injuries
what we have been doing for years,"
says Sheila Sarman, disability case
manager at TEGH.
In 2005 the government of Ontario
issued legislation requiring all hospi-
tals to begin using safety engineered
needles (SENs) due to the high
number of injuries. A 2006 report
by the Alliance for Sharps Safety and
Needlestick Prevention found health-
care workers across Canada incur
more than 69,000 sharps injuries per
year, 190 per day. Now, almost all
other provinces have similar legisla-
tion in place; the exceptions being
New Brunswick, Quebec and New-
foundland and Labrador.
But even with legislation, these
injuries have not substantially
decreased, concluded a study released
in March by the Institute for Work and
Health in Toronto.
Being ahead of the Ontario legisla-
tion was one of the keys to success at
TEGH. This early implementation has
I
n the early 2000s, health-care staff
at Toronto East General Hospital
(TEGH) were experiencing higher
than average injury rates from nee-
dles during blood collection, patient
injection and IV insertion. To
address this, the occupational health
and safety director implemented a
new program with the goal of reduc-
ing needlestick injuries by 20 per cent
within one year.
After implementing a slew of
changes, the results were outstand-
ing — the hospital saw an 80 per cent
reduction in injuries in one year and
blood collection injuries were elimi-
nated entirely.
"Prior to it becoming legisla-
tion, they already realized this was a
hazard, so what can we do about it?
They brought in vendors, they edu-
cated the staff, they did training, they
brought in the safety engineered medi-
cal devices to be used, they brought
in better sharps containers and that's
Moving
the needle
Workers at risk of HiV, Hepatitis WitHout
properly disposing of sHarps
By Amanda Silliker
