This paper employed a descriptive cross-sectional design. It aimed to determine the practices on the prevention of sharps-related injuries among health workers at the Zamboanga City Medical Center. Furthermore this study looked into the prevalence of sharps-related injuries among the health workers and identified possible reasons for sustaining sharps-related injuries. A self-administered questionnaire was utilized to determine the prevalence of sharps-related injuries. Key informant interview was done to identify reasons for sustaining sharps-related injuries. A checklist adapted from the "Workbook for Designing, Implementing and Evaluating a Sharp Injury Prevention Program" of the CDC in 2008 was utilized in observing the practices of the health workers. Result of the study showed that the overall prevalence of sharps-related injuries among health workers in ZCMC was 62% . Prevalence of sharps-related injuries were highest among resident physicians (94%), followed by medical students (77%),institutional workers (50%) and nurses (48%). The reasons for sustaining sharps-related injuries include: uncooperative patients; high patient load withconcurrentNemergency cases; use of sharps by health workers who are pressed for time; lack of experience in handling sharps-related procedures; and improper handling and disposal of sharps. For the practices on the prevention pf SRIs, most of the health workers (81%) had complete materials before beginning the procedure and ensured adequate lighting and space,but only (22%) performed sharps-related procedure with sharps disposal containers located close to the point of use. Almost half of the health workers (42%) did not use a predetermined neutral zone or tray for placing and retrieving used sharps.Health workers (60%) were observed to recap needles, majority (89%) did visual inspection of the area for sharps left and other waste, almost half (42%) did not secure sharps in closed containers when transporting reusable sharps. Majority (80%) did visual inspection of sharps container for hazards caused by overfilling; more than half (60%) avoid bringing their hands close to the opening of sharps container; keeping hands behind the sharp tip were also practiced by majority (67%); more than half (60%) allowed the sharps with attachments to recoil when disposing it; all of the health workers (100%) did visual inspection of sharps container for evidence of overfilling before removal. Although almost half (46%) practice handling improperly disposed sharps carefully, keeping the hands behind the sharps, 100% of them failed to use mechanical device to pick up the sharps. In conclusion, a 62% prevalence of SRIs among health workers were influenced by their improper practices on the prevention of sharps-related injuries.

Keyword: Sharps-related injuries and practices Health workers