December is Sharps Injury Awareness Month

December 1, 2022

Reduce Your Risk of Needlesticks and Sharps Injury

1. You can reach out to the Biosafety Team to ask for assistance in how to fill out the Safer Sharps forms or any other questions you have regarding sharps.
2. Never recap a sharp.
3. Never place sharps in pockets, even with cap on.
4. Never use two hands to handle a sharp. Place it down on a flat surface, look to make sure you can see the direction of the sharp, then pick it up carefully. 
5. Pick up sharps with tongs or other mechanical devices, do not handle unless you must for use.
6. Used sharps are disposed of immediately in a sharps container close to where you are working, for ease and safety for disposal.
7. Never place sharps in biohazard waste bags or receptacles that are not clearly marked for sharps.

Safer Sharps Forms – Human Material Laboratories

1. Are required when working with human materials including cell lines. There are many different types of safety needles, syringes, scalpels, and biopsy punches. 
2. Must be evaluated by each member of the lab/clinic or facility that will be using it for their job duties. To ensure it is appropriate for the job and easy for them to use without making the job less safe, they must document the evaluation of more than one device.
3. Must be inventoried/listed on a form and reviewed annually to look for new versions that have come on the market that may work better or safer. The Safer Sharps Annual Review Form is required for every sharp that is kept in the same facility/lab/clinic as the human material.  A non-safety sharp must have a documented justification as to why your facility is not using a safety sharp.

Safer Sharps Evaluation Form (PDF):

 

Safer Sharps Devices Annual Review Form (DOC):