OSHA Cites MA Cancer Treatment Clinic for Failing to Provide Safety-Engineered Needles

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited a Massachusetts cancer treatment center for serious violations of workplace safety standards related to the facility’s failure to provide needle sets with safety-engineered features, states an October 31, 2012, OSHA news release. According to the news release, an inspection was initiated by OSHA when workers at the facility complained that the needles used to treat cancer patients were not safety-engineered devices and that, in removing the needles, they were placed at an increased risk of needlestick injuries. During the inspection, OSHA found that the clinic had been made aware by workers that a safer needle system was needed but continued to use a system that was not engineered to reduce the risk of injury.