EigenAnalysis

National Health Services (NHS) staff suffers as many as 100,000 injuries every year from sharps and needles while performing their duties. Considering this high rate, the European Union has introduced guidelines for their protection which came into force the previous week.

These guidelines intend to prevent injuries from contaminated medical tools like injections in order to ensure the health and safety of the staff and in case such injuries take place in spite of efforts to prevent them, to bring proper policies in place to handle the situation.

The guidelines were issued pursuant to an agreement which was reached between the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and HOSPEEM, the European hospital and healthcare employers’ association. The NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety is a recognised qualification worldwide that has been developed by the UK’s National Examination Board of Occupational safety and Health; click on NEBOSH International for a course covering international standards and management systems to help train your staff to comply with workplace health and safety responsibilities within their organisations, in all parts of the world.

The negotiations for the agreement were led by Karen Jennings, the Head of Health at UNISON. She said she was happy with the union’s resolute approach towards protection of the members from such accidents. She stated that it is important and at the same time inexpensive to protect the health staff from such accidents.

Many health workers have died due to these injuries as deadly diseases can be passed on through contaminated injections etc. They should not be made to suffer from such injuries when it does not even cost much to prevent them. It is more expensive to treat someone suffering from these injuries as compared to finding safer needles. In addition to that, illness causes great mental agony and stress which should also be taken into account while doing a cost-benefit analysis.