- Accident (occurrence)
- Hepatitis
- Hospital employment (nursing)
The worker was a registered practical nurse. The worker appealed a decision of the Appeals Resolution Officer denying entitlement for hepatitis C.
On the evidence, the worker suffered a needle stick injury during the first week of her employment with the employer while using a lancet, which was not working properly, to perform blood glucose monitoring.The patient that the worker had tested was hepatitis C positive. There was evidence that the rate of transmission for hepatitis C from needle stick exposure was about 1.8% and, possibly, as low as 0.2% to 0.4%. Notwithstanding the low transmission rate, there were no other risk factors that were applicable to the worker's case which could explain her infection.The appeal was allowed.