ABSTRACT
It's now more than 20 years since the government issued standards to reduce the risk for sharps injury that health care workers are exposed to in their daily working lives. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued the Bloodborne Pathogen Standard (BPS) in 1991 for the regulation of occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens including HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C. The legislation incorporated the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC's) guidelines for universal precautions with recommendations for the use of personal protective equipment (gown, gloves and other protective barriers) and of puncture-resistant sharps containers, prohibiting the recapping of contaminated needles, and vaccination for hepatitis B.1 However, although OSHA and the CDC set the groundwork for reducing the risk for sharps injury through changes in work processes, the risk has not been eliminated completely.
