Grand Canyon University Occupational Safety and Health Administration Discussion

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OSHA regulations promote HCWs occupational safety by requiring bloodborne pathogens standards including management of contaminated, potentially infectious sharps. As an example, OSHA regulations require contaminated sharps be managed so that HCWs are protected from exposure during and surrounding sharps disposal. This means contaminated sharps are to be discarded immediately, in containers that are closable, puncture resistant, leakproof, and specifically labeled or color coded. Containers must also be easily accessible to staff, kept upright, and not overfilled. The regulations further stipulate how containers must be transported to and stored in secondary containers. This provides a layer of protection among numerous HCWs (e.g., surgical staff, physicians, nurses, central processing, phlebotomists, environmental services, and others) against preventable exposures to bloodborne pathogens.