5.9 Environmental Safety
Open Resources for Nursing (Open RN)
In addition to promoting safety for clients and their families, it is important for nurses to be aware of safety risks in the environments and to take measures to protect themselves. Common safety risks to nurses include sharps injuries, exposure to blood-borne pathogens, lifting injuries, and lack of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Workplace Safety
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a healthy environment as a place of physical, mental, and social well-being supporting optimal health and safety. The American Nurses Association (ANA) created the Nurses’ Bill of Rights, a document that sets forth seven basic principles concerning expectations for workplace environments. One of the ANA principles states, “Nurses have the right to a work environment that is safe for themselves and their patients.”[1] Environmental Health is also one of the ANA Standards of Professional Performance. This standard includes “creating a safe and healthy workplace and professional environment.”[2]
Preventing Sharps Injuries and Blood-Borne Pathogen Exposure
Exposure to sharps and blood-borne pathogens is a critical safety issue that nurses face in the workplace.[3] Blood-borne pathogen exposure can cause life-threatening illnesses such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV. Regulations and laws, such as the Blood-borne Pathogen Standard from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2002, have been effective in significantly reducing sharps injuries and blood exposures among health care workers. Areas covered by these regulations include sharps disposal practices, evaluation and selection of safety-engineered sharps devices and personal protective equipment (PPE), training, record keeping for needlestick injuries, hepatitis B vaccination, and post exposure follow-up. Medical device manufacturers have also played an important role in reducing sharps injury risks to health care workers by developing innovative safety-engineered technology, such as needleless IV access devices.[4] While substantial progress has been made to reduce injuries, preventable sharps injuries and blood exposures continue to occur in health care settings. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 385,000 sharps-related injuries occur annually among health care workers in hospitals, but it has been estimated that as many as half of injuries go unreported.[5] See Figure 5.12[6] for an image of a sharps container used to prevent sharps-related injuries.
If you do experience a sharps injury or are exposed to the blood or other body fluid of a client, follow agency and school policy and immediately follow these steps according to the injury site[7]:
- Wash puncture and small wounds with soap and water for 15 minutes.
- Apply direct pressure to lacerations to control bleeding and seek medical attention.
- Flush mucous membranes with water