Safety sharps prevent sharps injuries. The evidence is clear, though whether this protection is due solely to better physical protection of staff or some additional subconscious increase in awareness and inherently greater care by users is not entirely clear. It’s probably a combination of the two, and that is no bad thing.
The drive for safer sharps started in the US. It was predicated on improved safety for sharps users, frontline healthcare staff rather that ancillary workers or waste handlers who hardly get a look in. But the benefits across the board are obvious and we should not criticise this massive leap forward in sharps safety.
A number of professional representative bodies were central to driving forward the introduction of safety sharps, though we should not overestimate the impact of the manufacturing lobby who worked hard to create a new market place for their products.
The UK has followed with its own requirements for safety sharps, though there seemed to be a great deal of foot dragging by both HSE and NHS Trusts who left it until the very last minute to deal with the requirements of Council Directive 2010/32/EU; some Trusts are still to comply and the introduction of safety sharps is still not complete though it is difficult to see the regulators wave a stick to enforce compliance or ask awkward questions as to why this has been so late.
Latest of the developed countries to take a stand on sharps safety is Australia – regrettably, many resource poor countries simply don’t have a choice and the best they might hope for is the old and non-compliant non-safety sharps being dumped on the at low cost to provide, at least, a cheap supply of clean needles.
Surprisingly, Australia has been somewhat slow off the mark. Only now are the professional bodies and trades unions putting pressure on Government to consider an Act to require safety-engineered sharps. Regrettably, this is a private members bill that in most UK-modelled constitutions has little chance of success. But it does make a mark, and hopefully will maintain the impetus to drive through a speedy implementation of suitable regulation.