December 17, 1999


Dear Colleague:

Much progress is being made to protect health care workers from accidental needlestick injuries which can transmit dangerous -- sometimes deadly -- diseases such as AIDS and Hepatitis B and C. While these steps are very helpful, they do not supplant the need for federal legislation. That is why we are again writing to urge you to cosponsor HR 1899, the Health Care Worker Needlestick Prevention Act.

Last month the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a compliance directive on safe needles. That directive instructs OSHA inspectors to take into account whether a facility is using safer needle technology when they are reviewing compliance with the bloodborne pathogens standard. OSHA’s issuance of this new directive is very important. It signals a definite change within that agency about the use of safer technology as a means of preventing the spread of disease.

The importance of OSHA’s actions should not be minimized, but it is not a substitute for a new federal law. In order for safer needle technology to gain routine usage, the front line health care workers must be included in the process for selecting the new devices. If facilities choose devices that the health care workers find cumbersome, the devices won’t be appropriately utilized. Our legislation calls for such collaboration with the health care workers. In addition, the new directive does nothing to expand the collection of data regarding needlesticks. Without analyzing the situations in which needlesticks occur, the types of devices that often cause injuries, and when such injuries are most likely to occur, we will never reduce the incidence of these events. HR 1899 increases reporting requirements so that necessary data can be collected and researched.

More recently, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) issued an alert on preventing needlestick injuries in health care settings. This initiative is directly aimed at promoting safe needle usage in the health care industry, but it is only advisory in nature. Their new materials educate health care providers about the advantages of safer needles – nothing more.

Though these actions are both significant, there is still no federal law requiring that health providers use these safer devices.

In order to make the use of these devices the law rather than an option, we introduced HR 1899, The Health Care Worker Needlestick Protection Act. At this time, we have the bipartisan support of 162 Members of Congress.

The fact is that safer needles and needleless devices exist and they should be used. And, as analysis of California’s needlestick protection law indicates, use of these devices can provide significant overall cost savings to the system. Health care workers must no longer be forced to risk their lives as they work to save ours.

If you have any questions or would like to cosponsor HR 1899, please contact Elizabeth Robbins with Rep. Roukema at 5-4465 or Debbie Curtis with Rep. Stark at 5-5065.

Sincerely,




Pete Stark, MC Marge Roukema, MC

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