July 15, 1995

A recent needlestick injury to an ORS employee compels us to remind you of the extreme importance of properly disposing of needles and other sharps. Needles thrown into radioactive or biological waste bags are real hazards to ORS staff and others who have to handle the waste. You might not be aware that we may have to handle radioactive waste several times after it leaves your laboratory. We have to pull the inner bag from the fiberboard container and transfer it to another shipping drum. If the waste has a short half-life we inspect it at some time in the future and handle the waste again during the inspection. 

One act of carelessness in the lab can lead to injury by a needle contaminated with human blood, biological organisms, or radioactive materials. We are all aware that such exposures can have very serious--including life-threatening--consequences. Yet we have seen needles sticking out of plastic bags and lying loose in the bottom of liquid waste carboys. That is why we ask you always to use a proper sharps container for contaminated needles and other sharps. Simply recapping a needle is not enough; in fact, if it is contaminated with human blood, recapping is prohibited by law in most cases! 

Don't take a chance on harming yourself or someone else. Use the utmost care when handling and disposing of needles. Look at your lab wastes today and ask yourself if you would be comfortable handling it with your hands.