Safety needle program being extended to more health care facilities

Published Thursday November 26th, 2009

THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO - The provincial government is expanding a needle safety program to a third group of workplaces in Ontario.

So-called safety needles are designed to eliminate or minimize the risk of needle punctures to nurses and other health care workers.

The first stage applied to hospitals and the program was later expanded to long-term care homes, psychiatric facilities, labs and specimen collection centres.

The safety needles will also be mandatory in doctors' and dentists' offices, community health centres, family health teams and independent health facilities as of next July 1.

Needlestick injuries are a significant concern since they can transmit blood-borne diseases such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

Please Log In or Register FREE

You are currently not logged into this site. Please log in or register for a FREE ONE Account.

Logged in visitors may comment on articles, enter contests, manage home delivery holds and much more online. Your ONE Account grants you access to features and content across the entire CanadaEast Network of sites.

Disabled

Commenting has been disabled for this item. Existing comments appear below but you may not add a new comment at this time.

Search Articles

Any Keyword

Exact phrase

Begin Searching

Articles spanning several published days may be available online. Our complete article catalogue is available from our archive partner FPInfomart.

More CE Network Sites & Partners: