Survey of occupational exposure of waste industry workers to infectious waste in Washington State

We surveyed 940 Washington state waste industry workers to evaluate occupational exposure to potentially infectious materials (response rate 47 percent). Only 26 percent were trained specifically to deal with safety hazards associated with medical waste. For the year preceding the survey, 50 percent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of public health (1971) 1990-10, Vol.80 (10), p.1262-1264
Main Authors: Turnberg, W L, Frost, F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Federal regulation
Humans
Medical sciences
Medical Waste
Medical wastes
Needles
Needlestick injuries
Occupational Diseases - epidemiology
Occupational Diseases - etiology
Occupational medicine
Occupational safety
Occupations
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Surveys and Questionnaires
Washington
Waste disposal
Waste Products
Wounds, Penetrating - epidemiology
Wounds, Penetrating - etiology
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Summary:We surveyed 940 Washington state waste industry workers to evaluate occupational exposure to potentially infectious materials (response rate 47 percent). Only 26 percent were trained specifically to deal with safety hazards associated with medical waste. For the year preceding the survey, 50 percent of respondents reported having received cuts and scratches on the job, 22 percent reported direct contact with waste blood on their clothing or shoes, 8 percent had blood exposure on their skin, 3 percent blood exposure on their face or eyes, and 6 percent occupational hypodermic needlestick injuries (10 percent among waste collectors.
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.80.10.1262