Regulations
Federal
The Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act became law on November 6, 2000 (Public Law No: 106-430). To meet the requirements of this act, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has revised the Bloodborne Pathogen Standard 1910.1030 effective April 18, 2001. The revised Standard requires:
- Employers to use effective engineering controls, including safer medical devices in order to reduce the risk of injury from needlesticks and other sharp medical instruments.
- Employers to keep a record of injuries from contaminated sharps in a sharps injury log.
- Employers to involve frontline healthcare workers in the identification, evaluation and selection of safe needlestick devices.
The CDC issued a safety alert urging hospitals and health facilities to use needles and syringes with safety features to prevent needlestick injuries.
State
| State | Bill | Date Passed |
| Alaska | HB 440 & SB261C | June 2000 |
| Arkansas | HB 2278 | February 2001 |
| California | AB 1208 | September 1998 |
| Connecticut | SB 173 | June 2000 |
| Georgia | HB 1448 | April 2000 |
| Iowa | HB2476 | April 2000 |
| Maine | LD 2185 | April 2000 |
| Massachusetts | SB 438 & HB 969 | August 2000 |
| Minnesota | SF 2397 | April 2000 |
| Missouri | HB 1747 | July 2001 |
| New Hampshire | HB 1244 | May 2000 |
| New Jersey | AB 2317 | January 2000 |
| New York | A7144C | November 2000 |
| Ohio | SB 183 | July 2000 |
| Oklahoma | HB 2139 | June 2000 |
| Pennsylvania | HB 454 | December 2001 |
| Rhode Island | HB 6249, 6832, 6949 8185 | July 2001 |
| Tennessee | SB 1023 | March 1999 |
| Texas | HB 2085 | June 1999 |
| West Virginia | HB 4298 | April 2000 |
International
World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other international agencies have begun an aggressive campaign to halt a global epidemic of lethal diseases spread by contaminated needles.
The plan calls for phasing out use of all standard disposable and reusable syringes in developing countries and replacing them with a new generation of safety syringes that can only be used once. This new safety syringe program is part of an even broader initiative by a coalition of world health agencies, including WHO, UNICEF and the CDC, designed to curb the transmission of potentially deadly viruses through conventional needle use in therapeutic injections as well as in vaccinations.
