Sharps Safety

Cuts and punctures are one of the leading injury types in laboratory work environments at LBNL, but this injury is often preventable with the right equipment and good practices. Injuries have occurred to laboratory researchers working with needles, scalpels, razor blades, microtomes, glass pipettes and broken glassware. This resource document points out a few places where sharps injury are more likely to occur and recommend tools that can help you work with sharps more safely. 

Resource

1 minute 4 safety on sharps

Sharps Safety Guide

Sharps Containers

Sharps containers must be placed in the laboratory near the area of sharps waste generation. Do not overfill sharps containers. As a best management practice, sharps containers should not be more than two-thirds full.

Properly dispose of full sharps containers using one of the following ways. It is individual lab's responsibility to purchase new sharps containers. For more information, refer to Section 3 of this Guideline. 

• Medical Waste (Red Bag) Areas

  • Close the lid on the sharps container when it is full (do not overfill).

  • Hand-carry the sharps container to a biohazardous waste container in your laboratory or to your nearest medical waste accumulation pickup container. Make sure the biohazardous waste accumulation container or the pickup container is lined with a red biohazard bag before depositing the sharps container. After depositing the sharps container, close the lid on the biohazard container.

  • If depositing the sharps container into a pickup container, fill out the Medical Waste Accumulation Log. Wash your hands after removing your gloves.

• Biohazardous Areas that use Clear Biohazard Bags

  • Close the lid on the sharps container when it is full (do not overfill).

  • Hand-carry the sharps container to a biohazardous waste container in your laboratory or to your nearest medical waste accumulation pickup container. Make sure the biohazardous waste accumulation container or the pickup container is lined with a clear biohazard bag or that the pickup container is lined with a red biohazard bag before depositing the sharps container. After depositing the sharps container, close the lid on the biohazard container.

  • If depositing the sharps container into a pickup container, fill out the Medical Waste Accumulation Log. Wash your hands after removing your gloves.

• Unregulated Non-biohazardous Areas

  • Sharps including (needles, blades, razors etc.) must be disposed of in a sharps container even though they are not contaminated with medical/biohazardous waste. Remove or cover any biohazard symbols or labeling that says biohazardous or infectious waste. Label the container “Unregulated Sharps.” Sharps containers from unregulated non-biohazardous areas must be transferred to the nearest medical waste pickup container by following the procedures outlined in Section 3.3.2. Fill out the Medical Waste Accumulation Log and describe the waste as an “unregulated sharps container.”