Occupational needlestick injuries: educational program and mechanical opening needle disposal boxes.

1. Needle recapping injuries, which individual employees have considerable ability to prevent, declined significantly following inservice education. 2. The problem of needles protruding into the opening of mechanical lids in needle disposal boxes persisted even after the inservice sessions. When clearlid, nonmechanical opening boxes were used, disposal injuries related to protruding needles declined significantly. 3. An educational program coupled with the appropriate placement of disposal boxes had a beneficial impact on some categories of needlestick injuries, although the total number of needlestick injuries did not decline.