One of the most effective ways to protect yourself against needlestick injuries (NSI) is to use safety products in your everyday work. In this area, Greiner Bio-One can offer you a comprehensive portfolio for a variety of requirements.
Employees in the healthcare sector handle a wide range of tasks and are exposed to many different risks. Particularly when working with sharp and/or pointed objects such as cannulas, workers face an increased risk of injury and infection with transmissible pathogens.
It is a key concern of ours to inform you about the risk of injury you are exposed to as an employee in the healthcare sector when handling and disposing of these products. Unfortunately, potential hazards are often not noticed or taken seriously and those affected attribute too little or sometimes even no significance to injuries caused by a contaminated needle.
The cause of a needlestick injury can include a mechanical failure of the safety mechanism, incomplete activation or improper use by the user. However, there are varying degrees of technical development of the safety products to avoid these sort of malfunctions.1 It is particularly important that the correct handling is practised and to always be careful when dealing with contaminated objects.
Greiner Bio-One carries a wide range of safety products to give you the best protection possible from bloodborne diseases caused by an NSI.
• VACUETTE® Safety Blood Collection Sets have a safety mechanism which is activated after blood has been collected and the needle is still in the vein, thus protecting against needlestick injuries
• The VACUETTE® CLIX Safety Hypodermic Needle has a built-in safety shield which irreversibly encloses the needle after it is activated. Successful activation is indicated by a clearly audible ‘click’
• The VACUETTE® QUICKSHIELD Safety Tube Holder is equipped with a mechanism which keeps the needle safe after venipuncture and thus protects against needlestick injuries. In addition to their high degree of safety, the products distinguish themselves with their optimised ergonomic design.
For further information on our products, please visit our brand-new website www.power4safety.com.
If a health sector employee falls ill with a bloodborne diseases, the cause is often a previous injury from a sharp, contaminated object. Direct bloodto-
blood contact, such as with an NSI, is one of the recurring causes of infection. It isn’t possible to vaccinate against HIV, for instance, and the consequences of an infection remain fatal.
Don’t take the dangers posed by NSI lightly: get informed and protect yourself as well as you can. Your health is important to us!
References:
1 Tosini, William, et al. 2010. Needlestick injury rates according to different types of safetyengineered devices: results of a French multicentre study. In: Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, Vol. 31, No. 4.
