(B) Type and brand of sharp involved in
the exposure incident.
(C) Description of the exposure incident
which shall include—
(i) job classification of the exposed
employee;
(ii) department or work area where
the exposure incident occurred;
(iii) the procedure that the exposed
employee was performing at the time of
the incident;
(iv) how the incident occurred;
(v) the body part involved in the expo-
sure incident;
(vi) if the sharp had engineered
sharps injury protections—
(I) whether the protective mecha-
nism was activated, and whether the
injury occurred before the protective
mechanism was activated, during acti-
vation of the mechanism, or after acti-
vation of the mechanism, if applicable;
and
(II) whether the employee re-
ceived training on how to use the de-
vice before use, and a brief description
of the training;
(vii) if the sharp had no engineered
sharps injury protections, the injured em-
ployee’s opinion as to whether and how
such a mechanism could have prevented
the injury, as well as the basis for the
opinion; and
(viii) the employee’s opinion about
whether any other engineering, administra-
tive, or work practice control could have
prevented the injury as well as the basis
for the opinion.
(3) TRAINING.—A requirement that all direct
care health care workers shall be provided adequate
training on the use of all needleless systems and
sharps with engineered sharps injury protections
which they may be required to use.
SEC. 3. NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE ON SAFER NEEDLE
TECHNOLOGY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National In-
stitute for Occupational Safety and Health shall establish
and maintain a national database on existing needleless
systems and sharps with engineered sharps injury protec-
tions.
(b) EVALUATION CRITERIA.—The Director shall de-
velop a set of evaluation criteria for use by employers, em-
ployees, and other persons when they are evaluating and
selecting needleless systems and sharps with engineered
sharps injury protections.
(c) TRAINING.—The Director shall develop a model
training curriculum to train employers, employees, and
other persons on the process of evaluating needleless sys-
tems and sharps with engineered sharps injury protections
and shall (to the extent feasible) provide technical assist-
ance to persons who request such assistance.
(d) MONITORING.—The Director shall establish a na-
tional system to collect comprehensive data on needlestick
injuries to healthcare workers, including data on mecha-
nisms to analyze and evaluate prevention interventions in
relation to needlestick injury occurrence. In carrying out
its duties under this subsection, the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health shall have access to infor-
mation recorded by employers on the sharps injury log as
required by section 2(b)(2).
(e) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to be ap-
propriated $15,000,000 to the National Institute of Occu-
pational Safety and Health to carry out the requirements
of this section.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act:
(1) 
BLOODBORNE
PATHOGENS.—The 
term
‘‘bloodborne pathogens’’ means pathogenic micro-
organisms that are present in human blood and can
cause disease in humans. These pathogens include
hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and human im-
munodeficiency virus.
(2) 
CONTAMINATED.—The 
term 
‘‘contami-
nated’’ means the presence or the reasonably antici-
pated presence of blood or other potentially infec-
tious materials on an item or surface.
(3) DIRECT
CARE
HEALTH
CARE
WORKER.—
The term ‘‘direct care health care worker’’ means an
employee responsible for direct patient care with po-
tential occupational exposure to sharps related inju-
ries.
(4) EMPLOYER.—The term ‘‘employer’’ means
each employer having an employee with occupational
exposure to human blood or other material poten-
tially containing bloodborne pathogens.
(5) ENGINEERED
SHARPS
INJURY
PROTEC-
TIONS.—The term ‘‘engineered sharps injury protec-
tions’’ means—
(A) a physical attribute built into a needle
device used for withdrawing body fluids, access-
ing a vein or artery, or administering medica-
tions or other fluids, that effectively reduces the
risk of an exposure incident by a mechanism
such as barrier creation, blunting, encapsula-
tion, withdrawal, retraction, destruction, or
other effective mechanisms; or
(B) a physical attribute built into any
other type of needle device, or into a nonneedle
sharp, which effectively reduces the risk of an
exposure incident.
(6) 
NEEDLELESS
SYSTEM.—The 
term
‘‘needleless system’’ means a device that does not
use needles for—
(A) the withdrawal of body fluids after ini-
tial venous or arterial access is established;
(B) the administration of medication or
fluids; and
(C) any other procedure involving the po-
tential for an exposure incident.
(7) SHARP.—The term ‘‘sharp’’ means any ob-
ject used or encountered in a health care setting
that can be reasonably anticipated to penetrate the
skin or any other part of the body, and to result in
an exposure incident, including, but not limited to,
needle devices, scalpels, lancets, broken glass, broken
capillary tubes, exposed ends of dental wires and
dental knives, drills, and burs.
(8) SHARPS
INJURY.—The term ‘‘sharps in-
jury’’ means any injury caused by a sharp, including
cuts, abrasions, or needlesticks.
(9) SHARPS INJURY LOG.—The term ‘‘sharps
injury log’’ means a written or electronic record sat-
isfying the requirements of section 2(b)(2).
SEC. 5. APPLICATION TO MEDICARE HOSPITALS.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall
provide by regulation that, as a condition of participation
under the medicare program under title XVIII of the So-
cial Security Act of a hospital that is not otherwise subject
to the bloodborne pathogens standard amended under sec-
tion 2(a) because it is exempt from regulation by the Oc-
cupational Safety and Health Administration, the hospital
shall comply with the bloodborne pathogen standard
amended under section 2(a) with respect to any employees
of the hospital, effective at the same time as such amended
standard would have applied to the hospital if it had not
been so exempt.
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall become effective upon the date of its
enactment, except that the Secretary of Labor shall take
the action required by section 2 within one year of such
date.
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