Dawn Piper, senior sales manager at Initial Medical Services has found studies estimate that 56 per cent of dental clinical staff experience at least one needle-stick injury a year with the majority occurring after they have administered an injection on a patient. There are a number of existing and new laws which help to prevent this from happening and ensure any employer does their utmost to protect their staff, however something that has been missing so far has been an overarching framework to bring together all different health and safety requirements.
This is all about to change as of May 11, 2013 when the UK healthcare sector, including dentistry, needs to bring into force the necessary measures to comply with the new Health & Safety (Sharps Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013, translated into national law from the European sharps injuries directive, European Council Directive 2010/32/EU, to overarch a number of existing health and safety laws and introduce further preventative requirements.
Under the directive, healthcare facilities need to assess the risk of exposure to blood-borne infections from sharps injuries, identify how to eliminate this and where exposure cannot be eliminated, put into place extensive prevention methods. The new legislation also requires a framework for the occurrence of a sharps injury. The directive is supported by a local, national and European-wide reporting system and employers need to revise their reporting procedures with health and safety representatives.
The health and safety law has always placed general responsibilities on the employer to provide their staff with a healthy working environment. However, this new EU Directive is putting further emphasis on prevention. In reality it would be difficult, if not impossible to remove all sharps from a dental practice, so the next best thing is to assess the risk correctly, use devices which limit the risk of injury and dispose of all sharps in a safe manner.
Quick and simple way to reduce the risk of needle-stick injuries is to use innovative solutions such as InSafe Safety syringes – a safety system providing comprehensive protection for clinical staff from the beginning of the procedure through to the disposal of the needle. InSafe's syringe and sharps box ensure that the contaminated needle is never exposed except during the actual injection. It feels and aspirates just like a traditional syringe so there will be no interruptions to the dental practice when introducing the protective system. When the injection has been administered, the protective sleeve locks securely into place over the needle, protecting clinical staff and patients when not in use. The needle can then be safely disposed of using a sharps container. Specially developed sharps disposal bins are designed for such waste and comply with all EU and UK regulations and directives with companies such as us offering a dependable and safe collection service.
It’s important to remember that when it comes to hazardous and infectious waste, such as syringes and other sharps at a dental practice the cradle-to-grave rule applies. The producer of waste will always be held responsible for the safe and legal disposal of it, even after it has been passed onto the waste carrier collecting it. This is why it’s important to work with comprehensively trained sharps waste disposal experts who will safely and securely dispose of it and advise on the correct products which comply with both the UK and EU legislation. Health and safety law is criminal law and healthcare organisations can be subject to enforcement action if they fail to comply with the legal requirements. There is also always a threat of civil law action if an employee is injured due to insufficient practices and technologies being in place.
The new EU Directive is put to place to be complied with by all member states to protect both the employers and employees. Everyone has a role to play in the prevention of sharps injuries from the Royal College of Nursing safety representatives who have a duty to protect themselves and others around them, to the chief executive and board directors who will hold legal overall responsibility for the well-being of their staff.