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Sharps
This page provides guidance on the risks associated with sharps, how to control the risk and dealing with sharps-related incidents.
On this page
- What are sharps?
- What are the risks from sharps?
- Who is at risk?
- Control measures
- Information and training
- Disposal of sharps
- Emergency procedures
What are sharps?
Sharps are anything that can puncture or scratch the skin and should be handled with great care. Examples of sharps include:
- Knives
- Scissors
- Scalpel blades
- Hypodermic needles
- Pointed forceps
- Broken glass
- Microtomes
Sharps should never be left lying around. Immediately after use, you should either dispose of sharps safely or make sure that they are cleaned, disinfected and/or sterilised as appropriate.
What are the risks from sharps?
Injuries from the use of sharps such as needles and scalpels are frequent and may cause serious or potentially serious consequences, as a contaminated needle can deliver a hazardous material (research chemicals, drugs and toxins, or biological agents causing disease and infection) directly into a person. Biological agents may be known, due to the work activity, or unknown if working with unscreened solid or liquid human tissue such as brain tissue, blood, plasma or cerebrospinal fluid.
A severe risk from a sharps injury is the potential exposure to prion agents and blood-borne viruses (BBV), through a sharp that is contaminated with tissue, blood or bodily fluid from a patient or infected source or culture. The blood-borne viruses of most concern are:
- Hepatitis B (HBV)
- Hepatitis C (HCV)
- Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
A vaccine is available to protect against hepatitis B infection but there are no vaccines available to protect against infection with prions, hepatitis C or HIV. Hence the importance that every effort is made by staff and managers to avoid accidental exposure.
Although few people from those potentially exposed are infected, the effects of the injury, anxiety about its potential consequences and the effects of post-exposure treatment can have a traumatic impact on the individual, even if they are not infected.
Who is at risk?
The individuals at highest risk are staff and students that work in laboratories with specialist chemical hazards, medical research and clinical environments where known or unknown human infectious agents may exist, or high containment level where the most hazardous biological agents are held.
Incorrect disposal creates a risk to cleaning staff, waste removal personnel (local and downstream) and members of the public, all of whom rely on best practice of sharps users to prevent these risks.
Control measures
Consider the following as part of the control measures put in place for your work activity, in order of the hierarchy of risk control.
Eliminate
- Prevent the use of needles and sharps if they are not essential. High containment level laboratories should prevent sharps from being available
- Do not use hypodermic syringes (designed to puncture the skin) if they are not necessary. Wide bore steel needles and cannulas can transfer substances whilst reducing the risk of needle stick injury
Substitute
- Do not use a sharp needle when a blunt needle can be used in its place
Engineering controls
- Use 'safer sharps' devices where reasonably practical and when they do not introduce other hazards
Safe systems of work
- Only un-sheath a needle or sharp in the work area when it is required
- NEVER re-sheath a needle or remove needles from syringes before disposal unless documented as part of the safe system of work. If this is required for the activity, a suitable ‘safer sharp’ appliance should be used
- Do not carry sharps between work areas and never by hand around the work area. Use a tray or sealed container
- Do not place the hand that is not holding the needle in front of the needle (such as holding the container that is used to load the syringe in front of the point)
- Always point sharps away from you and everyone else
- Dispose of sharps correctly
- NEVER put sharps, especially needles and scalpels, in your lab coat pocket
- Ensure training is completed
- In the case of blades, use single-use instruments where possible to avoid changing blades
Personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Suitable protective clothing (eye and mouth protection) must be worn when handling human blood and body fluids, infectious agents and respiratory pathogens. This should supplement, not replace, protective engineering controls such as local exhaust ventilation
- Exposed cuts or abrasions of the skin must be covered with a waterproof dressing or plaster
- Wearing gloves to protect against sharps is possible, but may decrease dexterity and the ability to feel and manipulate objects, resulting in greater risk
Information and training
Most control measures, when using sharps, are reliant on the user being competent in their use. Therefore, individuals must be trained at induction, for new or temporary staff, and refresher training carried out at appropriate intervals in the use of sharps for work activities. The minimum content should include;
- The hazards and where appropriate, the biological agents that employees could be exposed to, and the risks from such exposure
- The findings of the local activity risk assessment
- The availability of prophylaxis (such as vaccination) against hazards or potential treatment. Complete the job hazard form where necessary
- The control measures to protect employees such as medical devices, safer needle appliances, PPE (if required), safe systems of work, local procedures and codes of practice
- When sharps are not to be used
- Safe disposal of sharps
- Emergency procedures and the requirement of an individual to report incidents
- Health surveillance where necessary
- UCL support available in the event of an incident
Training must be recorded and the competence of the individual to use sharps assessed. Inspection of work areas where sharps are in use must include a check on their use and disposal.
> Download the training guidance for the use of sharps
Disposal of sharps
A high-risk activity when working with sharps, is sending them to waste. Each lab should have specific information to cover all the sharps they produce, which should include the following information:
- Disposal of sharps must be in the sharps bin approved by UCL and provided for the purpose. They are traceable and depending on the size, can have weight limits
- Do not use makeshift containers (tin cans, plastic bottles etc)
- Sharps should be disposed of at the point of use, whenever possible
- Place sharps bins in a suitable place and height, for ease of use and safe storage
- NEVER overfill sharps bins or containers, fill to the level indicated (three quarters full)
- NEVER press down sharps to make more room
- Do not try to retrieve items from a sharps bin
- NEVER dispose of sharps in plastic bags or containers that can be punctured by the sharp. This includes yellow hazardous waste bags and autoclave bags
- NEVER place broken glass, needles or other sharps in the domestic waste bin
- Waste containers with lids should be closed prior to collection
- Place damaged sharps containers inside a larger sharps container
- Carry sharps containers by the handle, away from the body
- Keep all sharps waste in a designated, secure area until it is collected
> Further information can be found at UCL Waste and Recycling
Emergency procedures
Emergency procedures would need to be in place for any sharps-related incidents. A sharps-related incident can be the following:
- A puncture or break of the skin with a sharp object such as a needle or a blade that has been contaminated by blood or other body fluid such plasma or cerebrospinal fluid, or specific biological agents found in containment levels 2 or 3
- A splash into the eye, mouth or onto broken skin with blood or other body fluids such plasma or cerebrospinal fluid, or specific biological agents found in containment levels 2 or 3
What to do if you get a sharp injury (cut, laceration, puncture wound or injection) or splash
- Encourage bleeding if there is a puncture wound – but do not suck the wound – by holding the wound under warm running water
- Wash wound or exposed area under running water with soap. DO NOT scrub the area which can further damage the skin
- Irrigate a damaged or splashed eye with water for 20 minutes. If a person has a splash into the mouth, then they should rinse their mouth out with water many times and spit it out. Do not swallow the water
- Dry the wound and cover with a waterproof dressing
- Seek urgent medical advice as below. Ensure you have information on the hazardous substance
- Report the incident to the line manager, local Departmental Safety Officer and record the incident. Safety Services will ensure any further actions are taken, including those that may help lower the risk of this happening again
In the case of potential infection or serious injury, report for assessment within 1 hour.
- Bloomsbury Campus – UCL Workplace Health (0900-1600) or UCLH Accident and Emergency Department (1600-0900)
- Hampstead Campus – phone the ‘needle stick hotline’ on 020 7794 3301
- Archway Campus – Whittington Accident and Emergency Department
- Post Graduate Institutes at sites other than above – follow local NHS Trust Procedure
UCL Workplace Health should be contacted in all circumstances as soon as possible after exposure to ensure that a follow up is completed. Call 020 7679 2802 (internal number 32802)
What to do if you find a needle
If you find a discarded needle, blade or other sharp outside of the laboratory, for example when cleaning, do not attempt to pick it up. The sharp should be disposed of in a sharps container using heavy duty puncture resistant gloves, tweezers, tongs or a dust-pan and brush.
If the sharp is located in a domestic rubbish bag or a bag which allows sharps to poke through, you should:
- Using heavy duty gloves, carefully place the bag on a work surface, holding the bag away from the body while doing so
- Examine the outer surface of the bag for the protruding sharp or sharps, and if it can be seen, carefully split the bag using a suitable implement e.g. blunt knife/scissors, and remove the sharp or sharps for disposal
- If the sharp or sharps cannot be easily located, the bag should be split, if possible, on a tray to contain the rubbish, and the items removed using rubbish picking tongs until the sharp is located and can be removed for safe disposal
- Beware that if one sharp is seen disposed of incorrectly this way, there may be more that are not immediately visible
If you find a discarded needle, blade or other sharp outside of the laboratory, for example when cleaning, do not attempt to pick it up.
The sharp should be disposed of into a sharps container using:
- Heavy duty gloves and
- Tweezers/tongs or dust-pan and brush
If the sharp is located in a domestic rubbish bag/other plastic bag, you should:
- Using heavy duty gloves, carefully place the bag on a work surface, holding the bag away from the body while doing so
- Examine the outer surface of the bag for the protruding sharp, and if it can be seen, carefully split the bag using a suitable implement e.g. blunt knife/scissors, and remove the sharp for disposal
- If the sharp cannot be easily located, the bag should be split, if possible within/on a tray to contain the rubbish, and the items removed using rubbish picking tongs until the sharp is located and can be removed for safe disposal
Last updated: Friday, October 15, 2021
We encourage all staff and students to report accidents, hazards and near misses when they happen.