Sharps injury, and to a lesser extend blood and body fluid exposures, are a constant problem for health professionals and great attention is given to its prevention. However, we have raised also the issue of similar incidents affecting ancillary staff and waste handlers for who the risks are too often overlooked or ignored.

So far, there has only been one published report that has examined the incident of sharps injuries in hospital ‘housekeeping’ staff. For them, the incidence of injury or exposure what 20-30x more than for doctors and nurses when measured against employment numbers. Despite this, the issue is so oftem omitted from even the more comprehensive studies that focus only on the risk to sharps users.

Our colleagues in India are not so remiss in ignoring the risks to ancilary and support staff, and to waste handlers. In a World hepatitis Day evernt, a multi-centre study identified a 30% incidence of sharps injury and body fluid exposure among nurses and housekeeping staff.

There is a high incidence of sharps injuries among healthcare workers, especially nurses, a multi-centric study across four major hospitals, including Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune, Escorts Hospital, New Delhi, Fortis Hospitals, Bangalore and Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, has revealed.

Data ranging from six to 26 months  was collected from these hospitals using Exposure Prevention Information network (EPINet) database. According to Dr Nita Munshi, head of the Department of Pathology at Ruby Hall Clinic and one of the researchers of the study, there was a high incidence of sharps injuries and blood and body fluid exposure in healthcare workers.

They found that 243 sharps injuries and 22 incidents of blood or body fluid exposure were encountered in the cumulated 50 months of  study. Researchers Murali Chakravarthy, Sanjeev Singh, Anita Arora and Sharmila Sengupta were also involved. The incidence of sharps injuries is the highest among nurses and housekeeping staff (over 30% each), the study has found.

The many studies of sharps-related incidents, many from the US, should extend their focus to include housekeeping and ancillary staff, and waste handlers also. In that way the true extend