Health care professionals sometimes face safety dangers from the equipment used at hospitals.

For example, needles, scalpels and similar tools can pose risks of sharps injuries. Such injuries can have major impacts on health care workers. For example, there can be the potential for such injuries to expose individuals to dangerous pathogens.

Data from the International Safety Center suggests that sharps injuries have recently gone up at hospitals. According to this data, the rate of such injuries at hospitals was higher in 2016 than was the case in 2015.

What sorts of additional steps would you like to see hospitals here in Arizona take to prevent sharps injuries?

The statistics also show a change in which hospital workers suffer the most such injuries. In 2015, nurses held the No. 1 spot. In 2016, however, nurses were bumped to No. 2, with doctors taking the top spot. This is the first time since the start of the surveillance program the data came from (which was in the mid-1980s) that doctors have had the top count of such injuries in a year.

What do you think caused this shift?

When hospital workers are subjected to harm through sharps injuries or other workplace accidents, it can have major implications for them and their families. Getting fair compensation can help injured health care professionals and their families with recovering from the effects of such incidents. So, when pursuing workers’ compensation benefits here in Arizona, such workers may want experienced legal guidance on the process.