Infectious Diseases
Sharps

Infectious Diseases

Sharps

Risks

Controlling the risk

Sharps Containers

Following a puncture wound

Avian flu

Pandemic Alerts

Advice for staff travelling to affected areas

Advice for staff planning to cover stories on outbreaks overseas

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Handwashing

Advice for expatriates living in affected areas

Advice for deploying managers

Common Questions

Key Points

Sharps is a term that is used to describe small objects that are sharp enough to break the skin. This includes needles and blades such as razor blades, lancets, scalpels and Stanley Knife blades.

Sharps are used in a broad range of BBC activities, from building maintenance to hospital dramas, emergency workers in news stories, set design and weapons, etc.

Discarded sharps from drug use, as well as legitimate use, have been found in locations such as:

Black bags/sacks of rubbish.
Bedding, clothing, soft furnishings, car seats and green waste.
Public toilets.
Recreation areas (parks, landscaping, children's playgrounds, subways, car parks, etc.)
Discarded litter/litter bins (inside cigarette packets, sweet packaging, drinks cans)
Sink U-bends/drains.
Letter box baskets/door locks/floorboards/walls.
Lift shafts/ducting.

Sharps can cause both injury and illness.

Anything that punctures skin carries potential risks not only from the injury itself but also from infections.