Sharps Injuries & the Risk of Infection

Health-care workers world wide work every day to save people’s lives and help them fight against disease. Their work, while bringing with it a great responsibility, is usually not viewed as particularly health-threatening and dangerous to them. Yet there are several risks involved when working as a health-care worker.

One of these risks involves sharps injuries. Sharps include syringe needles scalpels, broken glass and other objects contaminated with blood from a source patient. These kinds of injuries can lead to infection with tuberculosis, diphtheria, herpes, malaria and many more, but most commonly- hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It has to be noted, that cleaners, waste collectors and others whose duties involve handling blood-contaminated items are also at risk.
 
There are roughly 35 million health workers worldwide, roughly 3 million of those experience regular exposure to bloodborne pathogens each year, two million of those to HBV, 0.9 million to HCV and 170 000 to HIV. These injuries may result in 15,000 hepatitis C (HCV), 70,000  hepatitis B (HBV) and 1,000 HIV infections.

If you have suffered from an injury at work, please do not hesitate to contact Thompsons No Win No Fee specialists on 0800 0891331 or complete the claim form below and we will advise you on your first steps to receiving the compensation that you and your family deserve.

Compensation Claim Form