University of Virginia Health System

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The International Healthcare Worker Safety Center at the University of Virginia Health System is dedicated to the prevention of occupational transmission of bloodborne pathogens. Since 1994, the Center, under the direction of Janine Jagger, M.P.H., Ph.D., has been a leader in conducting epidemiological research on needlesticks and blood exposures, and advocating for a safer healthcare workplace. The EPINet surveillance system was developed by Dr. Jagger in 1991 to provide healthcare facilities with a standardized system for tracking occupational blood exposures; it is now used by over 1000 hospitals in the U.S. The Center collects data from approximately 70 hospitals using EPINet (referred to as the "EPINet network"). You can print out a variety of EPINet data reports by clicking on "About EPINet," above.

For information on ordering back issues of the Center's publication, Advances in Exposure Prevention, which has ceased publication, click here.

To order the Center's book, Preventing Occupational Exposures to Bloodborne Pathogens: Articles from Advances in Exposure Prevention, 1993-2004, click here.

The Center welcomes your comments and inquiries. We are especially interested in hearing from health care workers who have an occupationally acquired illness as a result of a needlestick or other blood exposure. You can contact us at mailto:epinet@virginia.edu

Resources

Below you will find extensive resources on sharps safety and occupational exposure prevention: tools for conducting exposure surveillance, a list of safety-engineered sharp devices, statistics and benchmarking figures on percutaneous injuries, research articles, and a wealth of other information.  We hope you find them of value whatever your role or affiliation--individual healthcare worker, researcher, device manufacturer, government worker, policy analyst, or member of a healthcare professional group or union.  In particular, we hope healthcare employers, in the U.S. and other countries, find them useful as they work to reduce sharps injury risk in their facilities and comply with relevant occupational safety laws, policies, and guidelines.

Be sure to look as well at the extensive links to relevant U.S. government resources (OSHA, NIOSH, CDC, etc.) and other organizations under "Links" (above).

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What's New:


July 2007:  Six Healthcare Workers in Lybia are Released

• "Caring for Healthcare Workers: A Global Perspective" (editorial in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, January 2007, by Janine Jagger) PDF File
  
  
• OSHA Safety and Health Information Bulletin on use of blunt-tip suture needles
  
  
• Foreign Healthcare Workers in Libya Face Death Penalty for Nosocomial HIV Infection
  
  
• American College of Surgeons statement supports use of blunt suture needles
  
  
• Sloan-Kettering before-and-after study of safety device implementation finds dramatic reduction in sharps injuries
  

Safety Device List
List of safety-engineered devices designed to prevent needlesticks/blood and body fluid exposures to healthcare workers; updated regularly.

EPINet links:
Note: EPINet 2004 data is now available

Exposure prevention-related publications
(articles, checklists, bibliographies, information sheets, other research-related material):

OSHA and legislative links
(for more links, click on "Links", above):

• Federal OSHA's Revised Bloodborne Pathogens Standard - Published 1/18/01
  
  
• OSHA's FAQ on the 2001 Revised Bloodborne Pathogens Standard
  
  
• Updated Compliance Directive for Bloodborne Pathogens Standard (published 11/27/01)
  
  
• Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act: Text of Bill
  
  
• The Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act (H.R. 5178): What Does It Require?
  
  
• State Needle Safety Legislation