Tuesday Edition: Sanitation workers and discarded needles

2004-03-29
By Al Tompkins
Posted, Mar. 29, 2004

Because of medical advances, more people can now give themselves shots or injections rather than constantly going to the doctor to get medication. But that is causing big problems for trash workers.

Here is an interesting tip from Al's Morning Meeting reader Jay F. Marks, a reporter at the Enid (Okla.) News & Eagle:
One of our reporters here in Enid just did a story about the danger of discarded needles and syringes to sanitation workers. With our area's methamphetamine problems, this is a major issue, as it would be in most communities.

The story includes these passages:

Alan Peterson, safety coordinator for the city of Enid, is concerned about the practice.

"We have had four needle sticks in the past 11 months. Prior to that, we only have two in the past five years," he said.

Sanitation supervisor Carl Carroll said the needles appear to be more prevalent in a time when medicine has advanced to the point people can do their own injections.

"We just need to educate the public on the safety (measures)," he said.

A container designed for proper disposal of hypodermic needles will hold between 75 and 150 needles and costs about $3, he said.

"We have been told they will last about 45 days under normal insulin use," he said.

Sanitation workers wear leather gloves, but in the most recent incident the needle poked through the glove and pierced the collector's thumb.

"Now they are subject to blood tests to make sure they haven't contracted something," Carroll said.

Normally, three tests about 30 days apart are required. If the bag sweeps past a worker's leg and he is stuck in the leg, physicians may want him to stay off his feet for a few days. That means the worker misses days on the job, Carroll said.

AmedNews.com reported in 2001:
A used hypodermic needle at a hospital or medical practice is certain -- at least, federal regulations say so -- to be dropped into a specially designed sharps container, then handled with care as infectious medical waste. The same needle at home is nearly as certain to end up in the household's regular trash. So-called community disposal of sharps -- that is, throwing them out at other than medical facilities -- is what happens to an estimated three billion needles and lancets in this country every year. The AMA reports it has become "an important public health hazard," especially for sanitation workers at risk of sharps sticking out of trash. A 1989 survey of such workers suggests they have a 3 percent risk of being stuck annually.

The article also said:
The nation's 3.7 million insulin-using diabetics are the single greatest source of these sharps, although they also come from patients with a wide range of other conditions. Also a significant factor are injection users of illegal drugs, each of whom may inject as many as a thousand times a year. They are prompted by fear of arrest to dispose of needles any way they can, often in the nearest dumpster -- one of several powerful arguments in favor of clean needle exchanges.

The CDC says:

Needle-stick injuries can transfer blood and blood-borne pathogens (e.g., hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV), but the risk of transmission from discarded needles is extremely low.