Sharps disposal: difference between revisions
Diff·revision 11 → 12·04:14, 28 May 2026
Difference between revision 11 and revision 12 of Sharps disposal. 6 lines changed; the page grew by 1,373 bytes.
| Revision 11 — 14:07, 27 May 2026 MissedDoseMik (talk) move unsourced paragraph to talk 6,829 bytes +264 | Revision 12 — 04:14, 28 May 2026 LeanMassLars (talk) replace primary source with the review 8,202 bytes +1,373 | ||
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| 19 | Container standards specify puncture resistance, resistance to spillage when overturned, an aperture that admits a sharp but resists retrieval, a temporary closure and an irreversible final closure, and a legible fill line. The dominant international standard is ISO 23907-1; national schemes add colour coding that encodes the required treatment route, so that a container of sharps contaminated with cytotoxic medicinal product is routed differently from a container of clean lancets.{{r|iso23907,htm0701}} | 19 | Container standards specify puncture resistance, resistance to spillage when overturned, an aperture that admits a sharp but resists retrieval, a temporary closure and an irreversible final closure, and a legible fill line. The dominant international standard is ISO 23907-1; national schemes add colour coding that encodes the required treatment route, so that a container of sharps contaminated with cytotoxic medicinal product is routed differently from a container of clean lancets.{{r|iso23907,htm0701}} |
| 20 | 20 | ||
| + | 21 | For an individual administering [[Subcutaneous injection|subcutaneous injections]] outside a clinical setting, the available routes are jurisdiction-dependent and frequently poorly signposted: pharmacy take-back, municipal household collection, mail-back services and clinical-waste contracts all exist in some places and not others. Household refuse is prohibited for sharps in many jurisdictions and permitted, subject to containment requirements, in others.{{r|fda_sharps}} | |
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| 21 | == Scope and definitions == | 23 | == Scope and definitions == |
| 22 | Definitions of ''sharp'' are functional rather than enumerative. Health Technical Memorandum 07-01, the waste-management guidance for the English health service, defines sharps as items capable of causing cuts or puncture wounds, and includes needles, cannulae, scalpel blades, broken glass ampoules, stitch cutters and lancets. The United States occupational standard defines contaminated sharps as any contaminated object that can penetrate the skin, listing needles, scalpels, broken capillary tubes and exposed dental wires.{{r|htm0701,osha1910}} | 24 | Definitions of ''sharp'' are functional rather than enumerative. Health Technical Memorandum 07-01, the waste-management guidance for the English health service, defines sharps as items capable of causing cuts or puncture wounds, and includes needles, cannulae, scalpel blades, broken glass ampoules, stitch cutters and lancets. The United States occupational standard defines contaminated sharps as any contaminated object that can penetrate the skin, listing needles, scalpels, broken capillary tubes and exposed dental wires.{{r|htm0701,osha1910}} |
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| 42 | Figures are those given in the United States Public Health Service guidelines and are widely reproduced.{{r|mmwr2001}} Three features of the table shape practice. The ordering — hepatitis B far above hepatitis C, hepatitis C far above HIV — is the reverse of the ordering of public concern. The hepatitis B figures predate routine immunisation of healthcare workers and are not the current occupational risk where immunisation is universal. And all three are per-exposure figures conditional on the source being infected, so absolute risk in any population depends on prevalence. | 44 | Figures are those given in the United States Public Health Service guidelines and are widely reproduced.{{r|mmwr2001}} Three features of the table shape practice. The ordering — hepatitis B far above hepatitis C, hepatitis C far above HIV — is the reverse of the ordering of public concern. The hepatitis B figures predate routine immunisation of healthcare workers and are not the current occupational risk where immunisation is universal. And all three are per-exposure figures conditional on the source being infected, so absolute risk in any population depends on prevalence. |
| 43 | 45 | ||
| + | 46 | Injury surveillance adds a second dimension: when injuries occur. Reports from the EPINet surveillance network and from national schemes consistently find that a substantial fraction of injuries occur after use and before disposal — during device disassembly, during transfer to a container, and from sharps left in unexpected places such as bedding, laundry or waste bags. Injuries during disposal itself, including from overfilled containers and from attempts to force a sharp into a full container, form a recognised subgroup.{{r|epinet,elder2006}} | |
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| 44 | == References == | 48 | == References == |
| 45 | {{reflist}} | 49 | {{reflist}} |
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| 50 | <ref name="who2015sharps">World Health Organization. ''WHO Guideline on the Use of Safety-Engineered Syringes for Intramuscular, Intradermal and Subcutaneous Injections in Health Care Settings''. Geneva (2015).</ref> | 54 | <ref name="who2015sharps">World Health Organization. ''WHO Guideline on the Use of Safety-Engineered Syringes for Intramuscular, Intradermal and Subcutaneous Injections in Health Care Settings''. Geneva (2015).</ref> |
| 51 | <ref name="elder2006">Elder A, Paterson C. "Sharps injuries in UK health care: a review of injury rates, viral transmission and potential efficacy of safety devices." ''Occupational Medicine'' 56(8):566–574 (2006).</ref> | 55 | <ref name="elder2006">Elder A, Paterson C. "Sharps injuries in UK health care: a review of injury rates, viral transmission and potential efficacy of safety devices." ''Occupational Medicine'' 56(8):566–574 (2006).</ref> |
| + | 56 | <ref name="epinet">International Safety Center. ''EPINet Sharps Injury and Blood and Body Fluid Exposure Surveillance Report'' (annual series).</ref> | |
| + | 57 | <ref name="fda_sharps">US Food and Drug Administration. "Safely Using Sharps (Needles and Syringes) at Home, at Work and on Travel" — consumer and device guidance, current revision.</ref> | |
| 52 | 58 | ||
| 53 | {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharps disposal}} | 59 | {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharps disposal}} |