Sharps injury protocol for dentists

A sharps injury protocol for a dental practice should start with the first aid the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) sets out: encourage the wound to bleed gently, ideally under running water, wash it with running water and plenty of soap, don’t scrub or suck it, dry and cover it, seek urgent medical advice, and report it to your employer. The urgent medical advice matters because, as the HSE puts it, effective prophylaxis is available.

This article covers practices in England. It is general information and not clinical advice. After an injury, follow your practice protocol and get medical advice from your occupational health service or A&E straight away. The occupational health provider or a doctor decides on testing and treatment.

Needle stick injury dental protocol: the first steps

If you have an injury from a sharp that may be contaminated, the HSE’s advice is:

Encourage the wound to bleed gently, ideally holding it under running water.
Wash the wound using running water and plenty of soap.
Don’t scrub the wound while washing it.
Don’t suck the wound.
Dry the wound and cover it with a waterproof plaster or dressing.
Seek urgent medical advice, for example from your occupational health service.
Report the injury to your employer.

What CQC expects you to have in place

CQC reviews safer sharps when it looks at whether a practice is safe, relating to Regulation 12 and Regulation 15. Its mythbuster on safer sharps describes an acceptable approach as including a wall-mounted flow chart that details the process for dealing with a needlestick injury and the contact numbers for occupational health or A&E. It adds that members of staff will be asked to describe the process.

So the chart needs to be accurate, and the whole team needs to know it. Test this by asking a newer team member what they would do, and check that the phone numbers still work.

What the employer must do after an injury

The Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013 apply to healthcare employers and contractors. The HSE explains the duties in information sheet HSIS7, and CQC summarises them in its mythbuster.

Notification. An employee who receives a sharps injury at work must notify their employer as soon as practicable. The employer needs robust arrangements for this, including out of hours.
Medical care. If an employee has been injured by a sharp that has or may have exposed them to a blood-borne virus, the employer must ensure they have immediate access to medical advice, have been offered post-exposure prophylaxis and any other treatment advised by a doctor, and that counselling has been considered.
Recording. The employer must record a sharps injury when notified of it, whoever provides that notification.
Investigating. The employer must investigate the circumstances and causes, and take any action required.

The HSE says the investigation should be proportionate to the potential severity. Where someone is injured by a clean needle taken out of its packet, it will usually be enough to record the details and give any first aid required. Injuries involving a used needle will need more analysis, with a record kept of the findings. The purpose is to check whether your risk controls are adequate, with accident prevention in mind and without placing blame.

The record should include who was injured and when and where it happened. If possible, it should also identify the type of sharp, the stage of the procedure or disposal at which it happened, and how severe the injury was.

When a sharps injury is reportable under RIDDOR

Not every sharps injury is reportable. The HSE’s guidance on reporting in health and social care says a sharps injury must be reported:

when an employee is injured by a sharp known to be contaminated with a blood-borne virus, such as hepatitis B or C or HIV, as a dangerous occurrence
when an employee receives a sharps injury and a blood-borne virus is acquired that way, as a disease
if the injury itself is so severe that it must be reported as an over 7-day absence

If the sharp is not contaminated with a blood-borne virus, or the source can’t be traced, it is not reportable unless the injury itself causes an over-seven-day injury. If the employee later develops a blood-borne virus attributable to the injury, it must be reported. If you are unsure, check the HSE’s RIDDOR pages or ask your occupational health provider.

Preventing injuries

CQC’s mandatory requirements include:

assessing the risks from sharps injuries and putting appropriate control measures in place
having a written policy or protocol, including a risk assessment explaining why traditional reusable local anaesthetic syringes continue to be used, where they are
using sharps only where they are required
substituting traditional, unprotected sharps with a safer sharp where it is reasonably practicable to do so
placing secure containers and instructions for safe disposal close to the work area, and not on the floor
training employees to work safely with the specific sharps and procedures they will use

CQC says needles must not be recapped after use unless the employer’s risk assessment has identified that recapping is itself required to prevent a risk. In those limited cases, appropriate devices must be provided, such as needle blocks that allow one-handed recapping.

Immunisation and occupational health

CQC says staff should have access to occupational health services and be immunised according to the Green Book. Our infection control audit article covers how this fits into your wider programme, and the sharps risk assessment page explains the check.

Compliance UK’s incidents and complaints records let you log a sharps injury as it happens and keep the record in one place.

Sources

Sources checked on 10 November 2026.

Sharps injury protocol for dental practices