Newsroom
August 23, 2007
Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Ontario
IMPROVING WORKPLACE SAFETY FOR HEALTH CARE WORKERS
The McGuinty government’s new plan to improve workplace safety will help protect front-line health care workers against injuries from needles and an influenza pandemic. The following outlines the three-year plan to advance workplace safety in Ontario
Introducing Safety Engineered Needles and Needle-less Systems
The government is using its regulatory authority under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to make the use of safety engineered hollow-bore needles or needle-less systems mandatory in all hospitals as of September 1, 2008.
The government will consult with relevant stakeholders to introduce an amendment to expand the requirements by 2009 for long-term care homes, psychiatric facilities, laboratories and specimen collection centres, and by 2010 for other health care workplaces.
Safety engineered needles help prevent front-line health care workers from being punctured by a needle stick, which may contain blood-borne diseases. This will improve the safety and quality of health care practices throughout Ontario.
This plan is part of the healthy work environment initiative of the HealthForceOntario strategy.
To download the original document in a PDF format, click on the link above: