Taser Probe Removal Safety Issues
1) Taser Probes (also known as Taser Darts) qualify as a "Sharp" according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) definition of "Sharps". This is important because the proper removal and treatment of a sharp is an OSHA issue in the US.
2) If an individual receives a "needlestick" during the Taser dart removal, or if an individual is exposed to bloodborne diseases during the removal, the incident is called an "exposure incident". The individual subject to the exposure incident may have or have not contracted bloodborne diseases while removing the Taser dart or while having the Taser dart removed. Extensive testing is the next step in the process. This can be an expensive and stressful event. Possible bloodborne diseases that may be contracted include HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and other bloodborne pathogens". Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is also a bloodborne pathogen.
3) Current methods of removal: OSHA does not give clear guidance as to how to remove the probes, the guidelines only state that the removal must be done safely. Current methods of Taser Darts include removing the probes by hand, removing the probe with pliers or similar tools, or using the D.A.R.T. Pro and X-TRACTOR TIP Removal System made by Global Pathogen Solutions. When handling contaminated sharps OSHA guidelines should always be followed.
Special precautions should be taken when a Taser dart is being removed from sensitive areas.
4) Disposal issues: Proper disposal of the contaminated darts includes placing the probes into a puncture resistant, leak-proof container.
5) OSHA requirements and the Bloodborne Pathogen Protocols should be followed when removing a Taser probe. The removal process may also be addressed in an Exposure Control Plan in order to increase aser probe removal safety.
Read more about this topic: Taser Safety Issues
Famous quotes containing the words probe, removal, safety and/or issues:
“The middle years are ones in which children increasingly face conflicts on their own,... One of the truths to be faced by parents during this period is that they cannot do the work of living and relating for their children. They can be sounding boards and they can probe with the children the consequences of alternative actions.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)
“Anyone who seeks for the true causes of miracles, and strives to understand natural phenomena as an intelligent being, and not to gaze at them like a fool, is set down and denounced as an impious heretic by those, whom the masses adore as the interpreters of nature and the gods. Such persons know that, with the removal of ignorance, the wonder which forms their only available means for proving and preserving their authority would vanish also.”
—Baruch (Benedict)
“Love no man in good earnest, nor no further in sport
neither, than with safety of a pure blush thou mayst in
honor come off again.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“How to attain sufficient clarity of thought to meet the terrifying issues now facing us, before it is too late, is ... important. Of one thing I feel reasonably sure: we can’t stop to discuss whether the table has or hasn’t legs when the house is burning down over our heads. Nor do the classics per se seem to furnish the kind of education which fits people to cope with a fast-changing civilization.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)