The bill requires the use of newer, safer devices in health facilities by strengthening OSHA's standard on bloodborne pathogens. These devices automatically retract, cover, or blunt needles immediately after they are used. The bill also requires that workers who provide direct patient care have a role in determining which safer needles to use in their workplaces, and consistent documentation of all needlestick injuries. An estimated 600,000 to 800,000 needlestick injuries occur each year - two thousand every day. If stuck by a contaminated needle, a worker and his or her family must live through a terrifying six months or longer to find out if the worker is infected.
Safer needles exist today that can prevent the spread of disease.
Safer needles have such features as a protective shield or a mechanism that automatically retracts the needles into the barrel after use. Most hospitals are not buying or even evaluating safer needles, and regulatory agencies are not requiring them to use safer products. For the price of a postage stamp, for 33 cents,we could save health care workers' lives.