Report: Occupational Health Management and Needlestick Injuries

This report focuses on the issue of needlestick injuries within the Australian healthcare system. It begins with an introduction highlighting the risks associated with such injuries and the importance of preventative measures. The report then details the context of an Australian healthcare clinic, including its workforce composition and operational practices. A significant portion of the report is dedicated to occupational hazards and the associated risks of needlestick injuries, discussing the challenges of unsafe practices and negligence. It also covers the development of a new health program designed to mitigate these risks through training, standard operating procedures, and control measures. The report emphasizes the need for a multi-faceted approach, including hazard elimination, engineering controls, administrative controls, workplace controls, and personal protective equipment. The conclusion underscores the ongoing nature of this global issue and the necessity of proactive health programs to protect both staff and patients.

Running head: occupational health management
Occupational health management
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Occupational health management 1
Introduction
Needlestick injuries are very often in health care clinic and have capability of serious
damage. In most of the country, millions of healthcare workers are using needles on a daily basis
and therefore the risk related to needle injuries are increasing continuously. It has been seen that
precautions related to needle design are taken for granted in order to earn profit which are
increasing injuries in the health care conditions (Muralidhar et al., 2010). Awareness related to
needle stick injuries establishes at the time when HIV and Hepatitis B or C was at their peak and
was spreading very fast. Much guidance was launched to aid the health centers to introduce
proper care in their work process. But still, there has been reported related to a continuous
increase in needle stick injuries even after exposure to HIV. Many health organizations have put
a lot of efforts in developing models related to needle stick injuries in order to health
professionals (Kable, Guest & McLeod, 2011). This report is focused on the detail of Australian
health care workplace where this issue happens, reason, work profiles and so on. It is also
focused on occupational hazards and connected risk related to needlestick injuries. In addition to
this, it is also focused on the health program which offers safety against needlestick injuries.
Detail of workplace
The detail information is related to Australian health care in which needlestick injuries is
rising. This health clinic is having a workspace of around 1600 m^2 each for health service.
Australian health care is actually a healthcare clinic which in the occupation of offering health
care service within a reasonable price with the help of their innovative service technique. The
operation of this health care is mainly supported by tax funds in Australia (Banks et al., 2010).
At present Australian health care is having 50 numbers of nurses who are offering their service in
this health care. These nurse forces are completely dedicated towards their service because they
believe in their work of serving the community. Currently, this staff is to gain the trust of the
patient through their quality services. In addition to this, they are also committed to designing the
plan to do preparations related to operations, wounds treatment, checking blood pressure,
temperature as well as checking pulse (Elshaug et al., 2012). They are also committed to record
the present situation of the patients. In addition to this, they are also bound to offer injections
services on the regular base along with drip setup. They are also responsible for offering
emergency health services along with effectively communicating the present situation of the
patient with relatives. Among the current workforce, it has been seen that around 30 are women
and 20 are men’s. The age segmentation of nurse force is varying from 25 to 55 years. Around
30 nurses belong to senior staff and 20 are young ones. Every nurse staff is having a strong
background in nursing education and believes in serving others (Runciman et al., 2012). Most of
the staff is well experienced in this service while rests of others are just nursing students. They
have almost work experience of more than 8-20 years. As per the study it has been seen that
frequency of needlestick injuries is occurring on an almost regular basis which has become one
of the big reason for the clinic despite having experience nursing staff.

Occupational health management 2
Occupational hazard and associated risk
As per the study it has been seen that needlestick injuries are decreasing from the past 30
years but still they are constantly occurring in Clinics such as Australian health care. One of the
basic facts related to Australian health care is that purpose of the needle is their health service
cannot be avoided. Australian health care consists of guidelines which are linked with the proper
handling and discarding of needles (Green & Griffiths, 2013). In some cases, the design of
needle is being changed in order to avoid such injuries especially for professions like surgeons
and emergency room personnel. But at the same time, it has been seen that most of the incidents
related to needlestick injuries occurred due to unsafe practices and some negligence related to
health care procedures. Therefore, it has created one of the riskiest environments for professions
such as surgeons, laboratory rooms, nurses and emergency room workers (Epp & Waldner,
2012). In past, these needle stick injuries were linked with spreading of HIV virus and this health
clinic has also followed universal precaution in order in order to offer a safe environment for the
public from this needlestick injuries. But at present the major threat is not related to HIV, it is
linked with Hepatitis B or C which has become a big threat for health care. It has been seen that
the majority of needlestick injuries happened while reheating of needles after blood is being
taken from the patient. Although, this procedure is not now recommended in Australian health
care still many experts believe that infectious disease increase after the needle is reheated within
the clinic environment (Afridi, Kumar & Sayani, 2013). In many cases, it has been found that
rising of needlestick injuries is actually the outcome of neglecting all the protection procedures
related to needle injuries.
In this situation, Australian health care must introduce a new strategy in the form of
Standard operating procedure. Under this strategy, all the nursing staff of Australian health care
will have to follow a standard operating procedure for needle injections. The management of the
Australian health care has to completely focus on this important concern because injection health
service is a regular process and it cannot be avoided (Kebede, Molla & Sharma, 2012).
Therefore, the rise related to needlestick injuries is more as compared to other health services in
the workplace of Australian health care because many time due to regular flow of this injection
service, nursing staff starts developing this attitude in them that they are expert in their service
and therefore do not need to read out any manual script related to their regular work. This creates
arrogance in their behaviour which results in negligence of protection procedure. In addition to
this, Australian health care must involve some group of experts in this service in their service in
order to monitor the procedure related to injection (Naghavi, Shabestari & Alcolado, 2013). The
members can be Australian government health officers or they can take help of other external
audit providers. At present, the Australian health care is not having effective control measure
related to their injection service because they believe that it is a regular process and therefore the
chances of mistake are very less. But studies are showing completely different results. Currently,
management of Australian health care is using internal monitoring audit as a control measure
which is engaged in exploring the service offered by this health clinic (Lee et al., 2014). They

Occupational health management 3
control measure are good in another service because they are not regular one and offer require
some time while in injection service which is a regular base may enter into neglect zone. Current
Australian health care is following health protection procedure in their all health care services in
order to eliminate the chances of possible hazards within the service procedure.
Effective health program for eliminating needle stick injuries
In this situation, one of the best options to eliminate chances of needle stick injuries for
Australian health care is to introduce a new health program. Under this program, all the member
of Australian health care will be offered a training section related to needlestick injuries. This
training section will focus on increasing the awareness of risk related to needlestick injuries by
offering them proper education related to this issue (Lakbala, Azar & Kamali, 2012). This
education will cover both the importance of focusing on this issue along with the procedure to
eliminate these needlestick injuries from their workplace. In addition to this, training will also
include the risk exposure related to injuries which can promote diseases like HIV, hepatitis B and
C. This health program will also include the standard procedures which will help the Australian
health care in eliminating the possibility of needlestick injuries.
This health program will also include control measure which is considered as one of the
most important elements in protection against needlestick injuries. In this control measure,
primary objective of the staff is to remove unnecessary injections from the workplace. In
addition to this, they will also focus on removing needle recapping along with use of sharp
container in order to offer protection for disposals. This control procedure will also focus on
removing the sharp towel clip, sharp corner tablets. A traditional hierarchy of control for safety
and protection will be followed in order to offer a positive healthy work environment in the
workplace of Australian health care.
(Source: Engeman et al., 2013)

Occupational health management 4
Elimination of hazard
In this management of Australian health care will focus on exploring risk factors
associated with the injection procedure on a regular base and try to eliminate the possible risk by
removing those materials from the workplace such as used needles, unnecessary injections and
so on (Schulte et al., 2013).
Engineering control
In this management of Australian health care will focus on needle retract, blunt after the
use or replace. It will be better if the injection will be destroyed with the help of new medical
technology from the workplace in order to offer protection health environment for the visiting
patient. This kind of procedure is being followed by many developed countries like US and
Britain.
Administrative control
In this, management of Australian health care must focus on offering proper training and
health-related policies in order to eliminate the chances of needle stick injuries. In this, senior
staff can follow universal precaution of health protection as SOP in order to develop
commitment in the workplace (Leveson & Stephanopoulos, 2014). In addition to this, a
protection community will be developed which will develop a control plan related to injection
service and will monitor it on a regular base.
Workplace control
In this, management of Australian health care will focus on removing all unnecessary
materials which can act as a risk factor in the process of injection such as no re-capping, no
safety procedure related to handling and disposing of used injection and materials from the
workplace (Engeman et al., 2013). Don’t entertain the injection for reuse in any situation it may
be reheated.
Personal protective equipment
In this management of Australian health care will focus on creating a barrier in between
worker and hazard in order to offer risk-free environment for the staff so that they can do their
service effectively and follow all importance procedures without hesitating the workplace
environment. In this staff will wear eye wears, gloves, face mask as well as gowns to feel
protected.

Occupational health management 5
Conclusion
In the world of health and safety, a needle stick injury has become one of the major
concerns for health clinics. This issue is not limited to one place or other or within one country.
This issue is continuously increasing day by day. Both the staff as well as the patient is under the
risk environment while offering health care service to the patients. In the same ways, Australian
health care is also facing this needle stick injury despite having such experienced staff. In this
situation, Australian health care is in great need of health program which will help them in
improving their current position related to needle stick injury. In this health program,
individually associated with the health service of Australian health care are being educated
related to this important issue. In addition to this, they are also offered proper guidance to
eliminate this needle stick injury in the workplace. In addition to this, proper control measure
will be taken to ensure that a protected and safe workplace can be offered to both staffs as well
as a patient which are using their services.

Occupational health management 6
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