Waste Disposal
Sharps Definition
Anything which will puncture skin or a plastic bag (and hence be a hazard).
Examples include:
- Needles
- Lancets
- Stitch removal blades
- Suture needles
- Syringe and needle assemblies (do not separate)
Sharps Bin Colours
The standard bin is yellow 
.
This designates sharp clinical waste which may be contaminated with medicinal products.
Standard clinical sharps bin.
Not technically a sharps bin - used for placentas in maternity units.
For sharps not contaminated with pharmaceutically active substances (not used locally due to potential for confusion).
For containing CYTOXIC chemicals.
Sharps Disposal
Always remember the importance of sharps disposal.
Needles, used syringes, glass vials and cartridges and any other sharp objects must be disposed of in a yellow plastic sharps bin. There should be plenty of these available in all clinical areas.
All practical steps must be taken to avoid needle stick injury to yourself of anyone else. You actually have a legal responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) to consider both your own and others' safety. Remember the golden rule that if you have used a sharp then it is your responsibility to dispose of it correctly. Every year, members of hospital cleaning staff are injured by sharps that have been wrongly disposed of in clinical or domestic plastic waste bags. This is rubbish! Please take care and make sure that you are not the cause of a problem such as this.
Consider any sharp as a potential lethal weapon (which it may be if carrying a blood borne infection such as hepatitus C) and treat it as such. Below is a summary of important rules when handling sharps. It is not exhaustive, but it is a good start:
- Never resheath a needle
- Never walk about handling a sharp - take a sharps bin to the area in which you are working
- Always dispose of your own sharps
- Always dispose of sharps in a sharps bin
- Never overfill a sharps bin
- Lock the sharps bin when it is full
- Never attempt to retrieve anything from a sharps bin once you have disposed of it
Managing 'Needle Stick' Injuries
- First Aid
- Allow the injury to initially bleed
- Wash carefully at the sink in warm soapy water
- Make a note of the patients details when possible
- Seek expert help
- Report the incident using the local Health and Safety Accident reporting system If on University premises this is: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/safety/