It is estimated that there are more than one million injuries to health care staff with used needles and other medical sharps each year. If suffering an injury from a contaminated ‘sharp’, the risk of transmission of infections is 1 in 3 workers for hepatitis B, 1 in 30 for hepatitis C and 1 in 300 for HIV 6. Next to the considerable physical and mental suffering, infections and injuries have an impact on the daily workforce planning and the working conditions of 6 million nurses in Europe.