hello my name is Karen Daly I'm a nurse in the past president of the American Nurses Association I'm here today to share a very personal story with you and to talk about an important workplace issue that affects nurses everyday across this country 18 years ago I suffered a sharps injury and like many sharps injuries it was a sharps injury that could have been prevented my injury didn't occur because I was careless or inexperienced my injury occurred because of an overfilled sharps box because safer devices were being made available my injury could have been easily prevented unfortunately for me my injury resulted in the worst thing I can imagine as a result of my injury I contracted HIV and hepatitis and I don't want the same thing to happen to you since the time of my injury I'm happy to report we've seen sharps injuries dropped by as much as one third in the u.s. that progress occurred because of a law signed by President Clinton in 2000 that created new employer mandates and Orcas rights designed to improve sharp safety for you and other health care workers my main message today is to tell you that despite the initial progress we've made sharps injuries remain a significant risk for nurses and other health care workers in fact evidence suggests injuries have not declined any further since 2010 so why has our prior progress come to a recent standstill the reason is that some employers are choosing not to provide safer devices with sharps injury prevention features that could prevent these injuries that's why under the 2000 law your employer should be evaluating on an annual basis whether safety device is being used in your facility are truly effective and whether there are better safety devices available to prevent your injury in fact you have rights under the updated blood-borne pathogens and it's so important that you take advantage of your rights under the law to become involved in the evaluation and selection of new devices the responsibility for preventing sharps injuries belongs to everyone it's up to everyone to do their part to make things safer within the workplace and nurses have a big role to play in it first don't rush when using and disposing of needles and other ships next be sure to activate the protective mechanisms on sharp safety devices and finally always always always dispose of used chairs properly I can't emphasize that enough careless disposal puts downstream workers at risk of being injured please practice mindfully and stay vigilant advocate for a safe and healthy environment and the tools you need to protect yourself from preventable sharps injuries and remind your nursing colleagues to do the same you deserve nothing less I'd like to thank our sponsor cm and F group for investing in nurses safety by providing funding for this educational video the CM and F group is champion nursing professionals with risk management advice and liability products for over 70 years we appreciate your time today thank you