Policy Manual sample

MDT Home Health Care Agency, Inc. 225 SHARPS INJURY PROTECTION PLAN ADDENDUM TO EXPOSURE CONTROL PLAN PURPOSE: • The main purpose of engineered sharps safety is to increase protection from sharps injuries, which can transmit HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and other bloodborne pathogens. This is accomplished by stronger requirements for employers to use needles and other sharps which are engineered to reduce the chances of inadvertent needle sticks or other sharps injuries. • Also required is for employers to keep a sharps injury log, which records the date and time of each sharps injury as well as the type and brand of device involved in the exposure incident, the task being done when the injury occurred and whether the injury occurred before, during or after the task was performed. See attached example. DEFINITIONS: • Sharp: • Any object that can reasonably be anticipated to penetrate the skin or other parts of the body such as needle devices, scalpels, lancets, etc. Other items that are not sharp, but could be if broken, are included, such as glass objects and capillary tubes.  Contaminated needles or sharps are not to be bent, sheared, broken, recapped or removed. Recapping, bending or removing needles is permissible only if there is no feasible alternative or if required for a specific medical procedure such as blood gas analysis. If recapping, bending or removal is necessary, a mechanical device or one- handed technique must be utilized. If recapping is essential, i.e., between multiple injections for the same patient, employees may never use both hands to recap. Employees may recap with a one-handed "scoop" technique, using the needle itself to pick up the cap, pushing cap and sharp together against a hard surface to ensure a tight fit. Or employees may use a mechanical device such as tongs or forceps to hold the cap and place it on the needle. • Engineered Sharps Injury Protection: • A physical attribute built into a device or into a non-needle sharp that effectively reduces the risk of an exposure incident. • Sharps Injury: • Any injury caused by a sharp, including but not limited to, needle sticks, cuts or abrasions. • Medical Procedures Requiring Safety Devices: • Accessing a vein or artery