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Health & Safety News Brief
Occupational Health & Safety Information Service
New injection needle to prevent 100,000 hospital accidents in UK
 To cut the shocking number of potentially fatal accidents that occur with used needles in hospitals, a Labour MEP is presenting a report to the European Parliament this week demanding that new safe needles are made compulsory across Europe.
According to the Royal College of Nursing, 100,000 incidents occur in the UK every year where doctors, nurses or ancillary staff are accidentally stabbed with a needle infected with patients' blood as they replace the needle cap.
Labour MEP Stephen Hughes has already secured the European Commission's agreement to amend existing health and safety legislation to make a new needle with a protective shield the only one that can be used in European hospitals and surgeries.
Speaking from Brussels, Labour's health and safety spokesperson Stephen Hughes said:
"There is a shortage of healthcare staff in the UK. One of the reasons why the care profession is unattractive is because of the daily risks involved.
"10% of workers in the EU are employed in the health sector with most of them working in hospitals. But accidents in the health sector are 30% above the European average according to the European Commission.
"Injuries with needles can lead to the transmission of more than 20 life-threatening viruses, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
"Current European health and safety legislation has not managed to prevent these accidents. We need a revision of the law that gives health staff new safer needles to use and better training for use of potentially dangerous equipment.
Stephen is also calling for common EU standards on reporting and recording needle injuries.
The European Parliament will shortly be voting on the report by Stephen Hughes
A positive vote will constitute a formal request from the European Parliament to the European Commission to make a proposal for legislation within 3 months - by 1 September 2006.
Contact Stephen Hughes on mobile +44 777 091 4526 or Jenny Marra, Labour Euro Press Officer on +32 479 790 053
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