Sharps Disposal and Needlestick Response
Key Points
- Sharps must be discarded immediately after use into a marked sharps container.
- Used needles should never be recapped and should not be removed from disposable syringes.
- Any needlestick event requires immediate reporting and facility protocol activation.
Equipment
- Marked sharps disposal container with secure lid and safety opening
- Point-of-use setup that allows immediate disposal after sharps use
- Facility incident-reporting and post-exposure protocol access
- Safety-engineered sharps or needleless systems when available
Procedure Steps
- Prepare sharps container access before beginning any sharps-related procedure.
- Use sharps with attention to hand positioning and environment to reduce accidental injury risk.
- Immediately dispose of needle/sharp into marked sharps container after use.
- Do not recap used needles.
- Do not remove used needles from disposable syringes.
- Do not use force when placing sharps into container and never reach into the container.
- Verify sharps containers remain accessible, secured, and positioned per unit safety policy.
- If needlestick occurs, stop task, report incident immediately, and follow facility post-exposure protocol.
- Document event details and complete required follow-up actions.
Common Errors
- Recapping used needles → avoidable puncture injury risk.
- Delayed sharps disposal → increased chance of accidental exposure.
- Reaching into sharps container → high-risk hand injury behavior.
- Delayed incident reporting after needlestick → missed early exposure-management window.
Related
- blood-borne-pathogens - Sharps injuries create direct exposure risk to blood-borne infection.
- standard-precautions - Safe sharps handling is a core universal precaution behavior.