Il rischio biologico. Punture accidentali da taglio e da punta nel settore ospedaliero

Abstract

Biohazard is one of the main risks to which Healthcare professionals are exposed and the most frequent cause is represented by biohazard accidents due to wounds by needles or blades contaminated with infected biological material . The consequence can be the diagnosis of severe chronic disease ( Hepatitis B , Hepatitis C or AIDS/HIV) which is classified as a professional disease with legal outcomes . The evolution of technology has made available a more updated standard safety toolkit , but its general introduction is slow due to its high price . Recently , this problem has been legally solved with specific standard Laws applied in Europe ( “ Direttiva 2010/32/EU ”) and in Italy by the introduction of the “ D.Lgs. 81/2008 e smii Titolo X-bis “ protection of wounds from blades and needles in Hospitals and in Healthcare professional sector “ which includes specific rules to be respected by the Professional Job Director/Manager , with serious legal outcomes . In particular , the Professional Job Director/Manager must make a careful evaluation of the risk/biohazard and define the preventive measures to be implemented in professional practice and the related First Aid priority procedures to be , consequently , integrated in a Prevention Scheme aimed at improving Safety condition on workplace for the Healthcare Professionals . Obviuosly , this must imply to forget or either underestimate other types of risks(biohazard exposures , but it must simply make the “ Quality Procedure “ much easier , so that – starting from the main standard priority events – the main goal is to eliminate , or at least somehow , reduce all professional exposure to biohazard and /or biological risk.