The facts
- A hospital housekeeper is stuck by a used hypodermic needle protruding from a waste bag.
- The needle had been used on a patient, so it is contaminated with another person's blood.
- The site is washed and the employee is enrolled in post-exposure follow-up. No infection develops.
The determination
Recordable
Recordable as a contaminated needlestick/sharps injury under 1904.8.
Criteria met
- • Needlestick or sharps injury (1904.8)
Decision trail
- 01
Did an event or exposure in the work environment cause or contribute to the case?
Yes — presumed work-related, subject to the 1904.5(b)(2) exceptions.
29 CFR § 1904.5(a)(a) Basic requirement. You must consider an injury or illness to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury or illness. Work-relatedness is presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events or exposures occurring in the work environment, unless an exception in § 1904.5(b)(2) specifically applies.
- 02
Is this a new case?
Yes.
29 CFR § 1904.6(a)(a) Basic requirement. You must consider an injury or illness to be a “new case” if:
- 03
Is this a needlestick or sharps injury contaminated with another person's blood or OPIM?
Yes — recordable under 1904.8 regardless of treatment.
29 CFR § 1904.8(a)(a) Basic requirement. You must record all work-related needlestick injuries and cuts from sharp objects that are contaminated with another person's blood or other potentially infectious material (as defined by 29 CFR 1910.1030). You must enter the case on the OSHA 300 Log as an injury. To protect the employee's privacy, you may not enter the employee's name on the OSHA 300 Log (see the requirements for privacy cases in paragraphs 1904.29(b)(6) through 1904.29(b)(9)).
Also note
- • 1904.8 also makes this a privacy-concern case: record it without the employee's name, entering 'Privacy Case' instead (1904.29(b)(6)-(9)).
Computed at build time by Job13’s engine from the facts above — not written by hand. Change the facts and re-run it yourself →
What is actually going on here — Job13's explanation
This case is recordable on its own terms under 1904.8, before you ever reach the medical-treatment analysis. A needlestick or cut from a sharp object contaminated with another person's blood or other potentially infectious material is recordable even if no treatment at all is given and no illness ever develops.
It is also a privacy-concern case. The employee's name does not go on the 300 Log — you enter "Privacy Case" in the name column and keep the separate confidential list.
If the same employee later seroconverts, you update the existing entry rather than recording a second case.
The provisions this turns on
In the regulation's own words
(a) Basic requirement. You must record all work-related needlestick injuries and cuts from sharp objects that are contaminated with another person's blood or other potentially infectious material (as defined by 29 CFR 1910.1030). You must enter the case on the OSHA 300 Log as an injury. To protect the employee's privacy, you may not enter the employee's name on the OSHA 300 Log (see the requirements for privacy cases in paragraphs 1904.29(b)(6) through 1904.29(b)(9)).
Your case is not this case
Scenarios are worked examples on stated facts. Small differences — who recommended the treatment, whether participation was voluntary, what the employee’s routine functions actually are — change the answer. Run your own facts, and the determination will show you which step decided it.
Check your case — freeNot legal advice. This page republishes 29 CFR Part 1904 as published by the eCFR and explains it. The recordkeeping duty is the employer’s. Where the rule requires judgement, Job13 says so rather than guessing — run your own case through the free check.