Local Authority sharps health & safety document
The Midlothian Council sharps health & safety document is excellent and worth a review when updating your own local authority documentation. It is brief and to the point, clear and […]
syringe
Kids and needles – what is the attraction?
‘Terrified’ boy knelt on used needle at Bude Park Primary School in Hull Boy pricked by discarded needle on B.C. schoolyard Woman says son stepped on hypodermic needle at hotel […]
16-year-old finds hypodermic needle in Christmas present
A 16-year-old US boy found a hypodermic needle in his Christmas present! On Christmas morning, he put on a navy blue hoodie sweatshirt he’d just received as a gift; when he put […]
Parents warned after primary school needle find
Parents of a Dalbeattie primary school warned to be vigilant after a used needle was found in the school grounds. Parents have been told to watch for dirty needles after […]
Lifesaver syringe: useful or not?
A Huddersfield designer has developed a ‘Lifesaver’ syringe that changes colour to deep red within a minute of removal from its sterile wrapper, to warn that it is not sterile […]
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 […]
Braintree mum’s disgust over needle find in park
A Braintree mum is disgusted after finding a discarded needle in a county park. She was taking a walk around the lakes at Great Notley Country Park, popular with young families, […]
Heroin needle bins – What’s in a name?
Most communities show concern about discarded needles and other drug paraphernalia. It is quite understandable; drug litter is a clear sign of increasing social and economic decline, generally associated with […]
Another sharps injury
An Australian lady faces a long and agonising wait for an all-clear after a needlestick injury from a hypodermic needle left in the mailbox outside her home in Hampton, Victoria. “[She] was […]
HSE sharps injury
Having studiously ignored sharps injury for years, resisting all attempts to make sharps injury a mandatory reporting event under RIDDOR and so prompt investigation of ‘hot spots’ of poor sharps […]
Shoplifter threatened guard with syringe
A drug addict who threatened to stab a security guard with a syringe when she was caught shoplifting has been spared prison because she has a nine-month-old son. Lyndsey George, 22, tried […]
That’s just got to be painful!
It seems there is no end to the places that IV dug users will try to hide their needles and syringes, often placing others in danger of a sharps injury in […]
Hobart school kids share syringes to prick themselves
Three students at a Hobart primary school have been found pricking each other with a syringe they found outside a doctor’s surgery. The incident is the fourth in as many […]
Collecting used sharps from home users
Blenkharn Environmental have previously published the detail results of nationwide audits of clinical waste (including sharps) collections for domiciliary producers and of discarded drug litter by and on behalf of […]
Man put police at infection risk with needle
Echoing in some part this report from US, a Dundee IV drug user placed Police officers at risk of sharps injury and infection when he failed to disclose he had an uncapped needle […]
Steroid misuse increasing in Ireland
Addiction to steroid drugs in Ireland is increasing, though those who take them don’t identify themselves as drug users. http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/steroid-drug-use-on-the-increase-in-ireland-study-of-drug-users-in-dublin-has-found-1.1409012 Profiling more than 300 drug users who used services at […]
Boy pierced by ‘syringe tip’ after playing with it at beach
A 12-year-old boy was pierced by a syringe tip at Cowell Beach, Santa Cruz, on Sunday afternoon after he and another boy were playing with it The boy’s father took […]
Hepatitis C risk from discarded needles
Those who, despite our many warnings, dismiss the risk of Hepatitis C and other BBV infections from needles discarded by IV dug users (IVDUs) tend to ignore the statistics, of high […]
Are the days of the sharps bin numbered?
Safety sharps are being widely introduced in the UK, late, but better late than never. For establishments using fully automated safety needle and syringe devices that sheath or fully retract […]
Publically accessible sharps disposal bins
I have long-favoured the quite common, though not universal, US approach that places sharps bins in publicly accessible locations to permit drop-off of used sharps by diabetics and others. In the absence […]
Sharps injury legislation, Ireland
Ireland has not been backward at making the most of EU laws and subsidies though it has now found itself in deep financial peril as a consequence. But less advantageous though […]