Needlestick Injury Claims

A needlestick injury can shake your confidence—even if the wound itself seems minor. In the moment, it’s not just about the needle. It’s about the fear of infection, the waiting, the stress of follow-up tests, and the feeling that something went badly wrong in a place where you should have been protected.

At John O’Leary Solicitors LLP, we’ve spent over 20 years helping people in Tallaght and across Dublin who’ve been let down by unsafe working conditions—especially in healthcare, cleaning, security, and waste-handling roles. We understand the pressure these jobs come with, and how easy it is for employers to cut corners when it comes to safety.

Needlestick injuries are avoidable. They usually happen because of poor procedures, rushed handovers, lack of training, or a simple failure to provide proper sharps disposal. When that duty of care is broken and you’re left dealing with the fallout, you have every right to ask questions—and every right to seek support.

When you speak to us, you’ll talk directly with a solicitor who listens first, explains clearly, and helps you take the next step without pressure. We won’t overwhelm you with legal language. We’ll simply guide you with experience, care, and the kind of quiet determination you’d expect from a local team that’s always on your side.

If you’ve suffered a needlestick injury at work, contact John O’Leary Solicitors LLP today. We’ll handle the legal side—so you can focus on getting the support you deserve.

Where and How These Injuries Happen in Real Irish Workplaces

Needlestick and sharps injuries don’t just happen in hospitals. While healthcare environments are high-risk, they’re far from the only workplaces where these incidents occur. Over the past two decades, we’ve supported workers across Tallaght and Dublin from a wide range of industries who’ve suffered needlestick injuries in settings that were busy, under-resourced, or simply unsafe.

Common Needlestick Injury Environments in Ireland

These injuries most frequently occur in roles where workers handle, clean up after, or work around medical or contaminated equipment. This includes:

  • Hospitals and GP surgeries – particularly nurses, porters, healthcare assistants, phlebotomists, and cleaners
  • Nursing and residential care homes – during patient handling, laundry, and bedding changes
  • Public and commercial cleaning roles – janitors, contract cleaners, hotel staff, or sanitation workers
  • Street cleaning and refuse collection – especially when dealing with waste bags, public bins, or litter in parks and laneways
  • Factories and warehousing – where improperly disposed sharps (from employee medication or visitors) are not securely handled
  • Security, Gardaí, or prison officers – where searches or contact with personal items may expose staff to concealed sharps

In each of these environments, the danger isn’t just the presence of a sharp—it’s the way it’s handled, stored, or disposed of.

How Needlestick Injuries Commonly Occur

From our work with injured clients, the same types of oversights appear again and again:

  • Improper disposal: Needles left on trolleys, trays, or floors; overfilled or missing sharps bins
  • Rushed procedures: Accidental pricks during shift changes, patient transfers, or cleaning duties
  • Recapping needles: A banned but still-common practice where workers try to recap a used needle instead of disposing of it immediately
  • Inadequate PPE: Gloves not available or torn; gowns or protective sleeves not provided
  • Public exposure: Sharps hidden in bin bags, in clothes, or among street litter; exposure often happens when waste is compacted or lifted
  • Injury during clean-up: When another person’s discarded item causes injury while being cleared by someone else, often without being seen

These aren’t freak accidents—they’re the result of preventable conditions. In almost every case, the system in place was flawed: no one had checked if bins were full, no clear training was given, or there was pressure to move quickly with no regard for safety.

The Employer’s Legal Duty to Protect You

In Ireland, your employer has a clear legal responsibility to protect you from harm at work—including the risk of needlestick and sharps injuries. This duty isn’t optional. It’s set out in law, and it applies to all employers—whether you work in a large hospital or a small cleaning crew.

At John O’Leary Solicitors LLP, we often hear from people who were injured while doing their job properly—following instructions, working through long shifts, or filling in for staff shortages. These are people who did their part. Unfortunately, their employer didn’t.

1. What the Law Requires Employers to Do

Several pieces of Irish legislation specifically require employers to prevent sharps injuries:

  • The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005
  • The Biological Agents Regulations 2013
  • The Sharps Regulations 2014 (EU implementation)

Together, these laws require employers to:

  • Carry out proper risk assessments for tasks involving sharps
  • Put in place systems to avoid sharps use where possible
  • Provide safe disposal containers—sharps bins that are sealed, clearly marked, and not allowed to overfill
  • Offer appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE)—gloves, gowns, goggles where needed
  • Ensure comprehensive training on safe sharps handling and disposal
  • Provide access to vaccinations, including Hepatitis B, for at-risk employees
  • Create a clear and immediate incident response procedure for anyone injured by a sharp

These duties apply to all types of workers—full-time, part-time, agency, or contract. If you were working under their supervision or on their premises, the duty applies.

2. What Negligence Looks Like in Real Workplaces

In many cases we’ve handled, the problem isn’t that employers didn’t have a policy—it’s that they didn’t enforce it. Common failures include:

  • Sharps bins placed too far away or left overflowing
  • Staff asked to recap needles or dispose of them without proper equipment
  • No access to PPE during shifts
  • No training given, or training provided only once and never repeated
  • Cleaning or sanitation staff exposed to unknown sharps in laundry, bins, or public spaces
  • No access to follow-up care or counselling after the injury
  • Managers discouraging formal reporting to “avoid hassle”

None of these failings are acceptable. When an employer knows—or should know—that a risk exists, they’re legally required to take reasonable steps to prevent it.

3. Who May Be Responsible

Depending on your role, the party responsible for your injury may include:

  • Your direct employer
  • A third-party contractor or facilities company
  • The owner of the premises where the incident occurred
  • A public authority (e.g., local council, HSE, or healthcare provider)

We help clients identify who held responsibility and whether their duty was breached. You don’t need to navigate that alone. We’ll help you figure out where things went wrong and how to put it right.

What You Should Do Immediately After a Needlestick Injury

If you’ve suffered a needlestick injury—whether in a hospital, care home, cleaning job or elsewhere—the first few hours are crucial. Acting quickly can reduce your health risk and help protect your legal position if it turns out the injury was preventable.

You don’t have to know all the answers straight away. But taking the following steps will give you a solid foundation, both medically and legally.

Prioritise Immediate First Aid and Medical Care

  • Encourage the wound to bleed gently—do not suck it.
  • Wash it under clean running water using soap.
  • Dry and cover the area with a sterile plaster or dressing.
  • Do not scrub the wound.
  • Report to your nearest emergency department or occupational health unit as soon as possible.
  • Your doctor may prescribe Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) if there’s a risk of HIV transmission. This needs to be started ideally within 2 hours and no later than 72 hours.

Ask your GP or treating doctor to document everything in your records, including the suspected source (if known), and any medication prescribed.

Report the Incident to Your Employer

  • Inform your line manager, supervisor or health & safety officer immediately.
  • Ensure the incident is entered in the Accident Report Book or similar system.
  • Request a copy or photo of the report for your own records.
  • If there’s resistance to recording the incident, make a note of who you informed and when.

Start Keeping Notes of What Happened

  • Write down the circumstances of the injury while details are still fresh:
    • Where you were
    • What you were doing
    • Whether PPE was available
    • How the needle or sharp came to be there
  • If anyone saw the incident, note their name—witness statements may help later.

Don’t Wait to Seek Advice

Even if you’re not sure what the outcome will be, it’s worth speaking to a solicitor as early as possible. You don’t have to wait for test results or a full diagnosis to find out where you stand. Early advice can help protect your rights and ensure evidence is preserved properly.

Long-term Effects

Needlestick injuries aren’t just about what happens in the moment. For many people, the effects continue long after the wound heals. These injuries often bring weeks, months—or even years—of medical monitoring, emotional strain, and practical difficulties, especially when they’re linked to a breakdown in workplace safety.

At John O’Leary Solicitors LLP, we’ve spoken to countless individuals across Tallaght and Dublin who were left dealing with far more than they ever expected after a single prick from a sharp.

Medical Effects That Don’t End Quickly

Following a needlestick injury, you may be required to:

  • Undergo repeated blood testing over several months
  • Receive vaccinations or boosters (e.g. Hepatitis B)
  • Start or complete a course of PEP medication (for HIV exposure)
  • Attend multiple hospital appointments or specialist reviews
  • Be restricted from donating blood or organs for a set period
  • Delay personal plans—like starting a family—until test results are clear

Even if no infection is ultimately found, the strain of being in medical limbo can be exhausting. If a blood-borne illness is diagnosed, the medical impact may be lifelong.

Psychological and Emotional Impact

Many clients describe feeling:

  • Anxious or panicked in the weeks following exposure
  • Isolated, especially if they’re told to keep the incident quiet at work
  • Fearful of interacting with patients or waste again
  • Ashamed—even when the incident wasn’t their fault
  • Depressed, particularly if return to work is delayed or poorly handled

This psychological impact is real, and in some cases, serious enough to require therapy or medication. It can affect not just the injured person, but their family too.

Financial and Practical Disruption

Needlestick injuries can lead to:

  • Time off work, especially if follow-up appointments are frequent
  • Loss of earnings, particularly for agency or part-time workers
  • Costs for prescriptions, transport, and counselling
  • Transfers or changes in duties at work that impact career development
  • In some cases, even job loss or early retirement

These effects often aren’t visible—but they are real. That’s why any claim should reflect not just your physical injury, but the disruption to your life as a whole.

Claim Deadlines

In Ireland, there is a strict legal time limit for making a personal injury claim, including those arising from needlestick injuries. Known as the statute of limitations, this period is generally two years less one day from the date you knew—or should have known—that your injury was linked to negligence at work.

For most needlestick injuries, this is straightforward: the clock starts on the day the injury occurred. However, things can get more complex if your symptoms developed later, or if there was uncertainty about infection. In such cases, the two-year period may begin from the “date of knowledge”—the point at which a doctor informed you, or you reasonably became aware, that you may have suffered long-term harm.

For example:

  • If you were diagnosed with hepatitis C or HIV months after the incident, your claim period may begin from the date of diagnosis.
  • If you develop anxiety or another psychological condition as a result of the event, and it is medically linked to the incident, this can also extend the start date.

Importantly, even if you’re unsure about the long-term outcome, you should not delay in seeking legal advice. Valuable evidence—such as witness accounts, risk assessments, and documentation—can become harder to access over time.

If you are concerned about time limits or whether you still qualify to make a claim, speaking to a solicitor early can help protect your rights and give you peace of mind. We’re here to explain your options clearly, without any pressure.

Talk to John O’Leary Solicitors LLP

If you’ve been injured by a needle or sharp at work, don’t wait in silence. At John O’Leary Solicitors LLP, you’ll speak directly with a solicitor who understands the stress, the uncertainty, and the system you’re up against.

We’ve spent over 20 years helping people across Tallaght and Dublin get answers, support, and rightful compensation after workplace injuries. We act quickly, handle everything thoroughly, and always keep your best interests at heart.

Call John O’Leary Solicitors LLP today to speak with a solicitor in complete confidence.