EU Guidelines to Ensure Safety of Health Staff
Injuries to healthcare staff from sharps and needles can have fatal consequences, and the European Union has issued guidelines to protect staff from such risk.
Around 100,000 cases of injuries from sharps and needles in the NHS are reported annually. Several negotiations at the EU level were conducted by UNISON’s Head of Health, Karen Jennings, between the European Federation of Public Service Unions and the European hospital and healthcare employers’ association.
The guidelines focus on how to check cases of injuries from contaminated sharps, and protect the workers at risk of exposure. They also explain how situations where those injuries have occurred should be handled.
In this context, she focused on the easy availability of clean and safer needles that can easily avoid injuries and deaths by contaminated needles. She stated that with dirty needles, workers dangerously expose themselves to hepatitis and HIV, and fall victims to severe physical and psychological agony.
She added that the expenditure involved in treatment of workers injured by needles such as tests or monetary compensation far outweigh the cost of providing safer and cleaner needles. She further added that no amount of compensation can relieve the psychological distress caused by needle-related injuries.
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