How secure are your sharps containers?
How secure are your sharps containers? Whether they are in a hospital clinic room or ward, a laboratory, GP surgery or in a public washroom or drug hotspot, sharps containers […]
accident
New designs for hospital waste bins
At best, hospitals are rather soulless places. With stark design, neutral – or is that bland? – colour schemes, and limited furnishings further justified now to aid infection prevention, even […]
NHS pays £75k to nurse who developed OCD after sharps injury
An NHS Trust has agreed to pay £75k to a nurse whose marriage broke down after she developed OCD when she was pricked by needle at work. The trainee nurse has […]
Managing needle disposal safely
It is, to many of us, quite straightforward. Use a sharps bin and ensure that this is securely located away from curious little hands, in a place from where it […]
Girl, 2, stuck by ‘dirty needle’
“A 2-year-old girl became the second child reported to be stuck by a “dirty needle” in Rolla, Missouri in the last seven weeks. “According to the Rolla Police Department’s daily media […]
Schoolgirl falls on discarded needle
A Strabane schoolgirl has had an apparently lucky escape after falling onto a discarded syringe needle while walking home from school. The horrifying incident happened close to the town’s St […]
2-year old stuck by discarded needle
A 2-year old girl was ‘jabbed’ in the palm of her hand – penetrating her skin – after picking the needle up from the floor of a toilet at the […]
Cardiff embankment littered with discarded needles
Dozens of dirty needles were discovered by a dog walker on a riverbank, prompting fears for the safety of passers-by. Andree Wood, a nurse from Grangetown in Cardiff, takes her […]
Needlestick on Lyme Regis beach
A boy has stepped onto a needle on Lyme’s main beach. The five-year-old boy was playing football on the main sandy beach when he stepped on the needle, assumed to be […]
Seven-year-old faces uncertain future after stepping on needle
A worried mother faces months of uncertainty after her son stepped on a used syringe at a South Mackay playground. The seven-year-old boy underwent the first of a long series […]
One third of NHS acute Trusts in breach of EU & UK sharps rules
A MindMetre research note on the implementation of EU Directive 2010/32/EU in UK NHS Acute Trusts paints a poor picture of sharps safety compliance. Now long after the required date for […]
Accidental death from ‘Mummy’s sweets’
A 16 month old toddler has died after overdosing on iron tablets he thought were ‘Mummy’s sweets’ after his sister climbed onto the bathroom sink to reach them. When children are […]
City Hall bathrooms to get needle containers
City Hall (Town Hall) bathrooms in the city of Racine, Wisconsin, are to get needle containers. “Mayor John Dickert and Racine Public Health Administrator Dottie-Kay Bowersox said Thursday that they […]
Distraught child finds needles on seat of Melbourne tram
A young girl was reportedly “distraught” after finding syringes on her seat on a Melbourne tram seat, according to a witness. The needles were concealed on her seat, according to […]
HIV transmission by needlestick
In an astounding piece from the Armenian News Agency, it is claimed that “A person cannot be infected with AIDS with a needle”! The Head of the Armenian AIDS Prevention […]
HIV positive nurse injects baby with needle she used on herself
In Uganda, an HIV positive nurse has injected a 2-year old baby with a needle she had used on herself. The baby’s parents discovered the nurse at Victoria Medical Centre, injecting their child with a […]
Cheltenham General Hospital’s cleaners traumatised by needlesticks
“More than a dozen cleaners at Cheltenham General Hospital say they have been left severely traumatised after they were stabbed by hypodermic needles in the last 12 months. “At least […]
ISC waste woes
Clinical wastes and indeed just about all other waste streams are managed poorly right across the Indian sub-continent. A good friend living and working in Goa tells tales of almost […]
Commercial success in 2013
Good to read CIWM Journal this month, and the annual review of the industry’s fastest growing waste and resource management companies. High on the list at number 24, having previously […]
Which is the best sharps safety glove?
The Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST), established in Québec since 1980, is a scientific research organization well-known for the quality of its work […]
Boy on AIDS drugs after needlestick
A bag of hypodermic needles dumped outside a school has turned a Cape Town family’s lives into a “living hell”. This was after the bag, dumped near a Junior Primary […]
Horror of boy stuck by needle on Dundee bus
A Dundee family face an agonising six-month wait after their young son was pricked by a used needle on a bus. The six-year-old boy was injured following an incident aboard […]
Discarded sharps litter from IV drug abuse
A local newspaper reports a Muskegon County, Michigan, man found with heroin needle in arm in a parking lot. That is not uncommon, and is a situation that ambulance crews […]
Ohio temporary waste workers exposed to medical wastes
Temporary workers hired by Ohio State University to separate plastics and cardboard came across medical waste and various medical files, the workers told 10 TV News in Columbus. The workers […]
Another sharps injury
A New Castle, Pennsylvania police officer accidentally punctured his thumb with a needle allegedly used by a man to inject heroin. Police had been called to a man who was on the ground […]
Needlestick on Australian beach
A mother has an anxious after a ‘dirty needle’ prick at Frankston Beach near Melbourne. As always, the beach-side area attracts IV drug users who seek some degree of isolation and […]
Young boys suffer sharps injury
Two young lads have suffered near-miss sharps exposures in separate incidents in the UK, in each case while enjoying an outing to play in the park. In Maidenhead, a nine-year-old […]
Plotting the distribution of needle finds
We have reported many needle find incidents recently, and that is barely the tip of a very big iceberg. So, as data accumulates concerning reported needle finds, can anything be […]
Bizarre needle finds
Is there no end to the places people find a discarded hypodermic needle, some discarded quite casually, others hidden in an attempt to hide the evidence, and some placed far […]
Sanctions and penalties for unsafe sharps disposal
There have been mutterings recently from the Scottish Parliament of sanctions to be held against healthcare professionals – doctors were singled out but this presumably embraces all – who fail on […]