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Needlestick safety was thrust into the legislative arena with the passage of a law in CA in 1998. In 1999, 40 bills were introduced in 22 states. Nearly a million health care workers are injured by needles each year, putting them at risk for required hospitalizations, becoming life-long virus carriers, or even death. Safe procedures and equipment exist but need to be used. The majority of the legislation pending is modeled after the CA law, and would require the following: (1) the state's department of health adopt a bloodborne pathogen standard that includes the use of needleless systems; (2) a written exposure control plan; and (3) maintenance of a sharps injury log. Legislation of this type was been introduced in 1999 in CT, FL, HI, IL, IN, IA, MA, ME, MT, NJ, OH, and WA. HI's approved resolution and TN's new law require a written exposure control plan, and a review and on-going list of improved sharps technology to be made available to all employers. The new TX law requires any health-related institutions of state government to comply with minimum standards to implement an exposure control plan, needleless systems, a device registration program and a sharps injury log. In MD (where the bill is now law), MA and RI, advisory boards would be created to study the issue and make recommendations on applicable regulations. NY's proposed legislation and NJ's new law require the use of sharps devices approved by the FDA. And in Ohio, a class action lawsuit has been filed against needle manufacturers, seeking compensatory and punitive damages for Ohio health care workers who have sustained needlestick injuries.

1999 State Legislative Trends main page
ANA's Safe Needles Save Lives campaign to prevent needlestick injury