Sharps container

Details Sharps container Sharps container

2000-01-13

2001-06-26

Fidei, David T. (Department: 3728)

Special receptacle or package

For a tool

Body treatment

C206S366000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06250465

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a container for use in the disposal of medical and hospital sharps such as needles, syringes, surgical blades and the like and associated medical or other waste materials. In particular, the invention relates to a secure reusable sharps container for location in a medical clinic, hospital etc and into which medical sharps and waste materials can be placed for storage pending later disposal or destruction of that material at an appropriate facility for that purpose.
BACKGROUND
Hospitals and medical clinics use many sharps objects that are disposed of rather than cleaned and reused. Generally it is desirable and often necessary to provide secure containers into which the sharps objects and waste materials are placed for storage pending their disposal. These containers provide security against pilfering of used syringes and the like to prevent them falling into the hands of intravenous drug users or others who are likely to use them without proper sterilization. Such containers are also designed so that when sharps are placed therein, they are safely stored without placing hospital staff and patients at risk of contact with the sharps, which otherwise could result in needle stick injuries and the potential for transfer of infectious disease.
Sharps containers are known and examples of such containers are shown in the following specifications; U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,498, U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,322, and EP 90313126.6, all of which disclose disposable containers. Reusable containers are also known, as shown for example by U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,243. A general problem with both disposable and reusable containers is that it is difficult to provide a container that has a large access opening and at the same time ensure prevention of hand access to within the container.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a sharps container, which may be either disposable or reusable, having a high level of security against access to within the container. A subsidiary object is to provide a reusable sharps container construction which allows for embodiments of the container to have a large access opening.
According to the invention, there is provided a container comprising a receptacle for receiving and storing medical sharps and waste materials, the receptacle having an opening,
a closure for dosing the opening, the closure being hinged to the receptacle for movement between opened and closed positions,
a pivotal disposing means mounted at the opening wherein for the opened position of the closure, the disposing means is accessible for medical sharps and waste materials to be placed thereon, the disposing means being pivotally moveable for disposal of the medical sharps and waste materials therefrom into the receptacle,
wherein the disposing means is arranged relative to the closure in its opened position, and the receptacle, to prevent hand access into the receptacle for all positions of the disposing means about its pivotal axis.
Preferably the pivotal disposing means is a tray which is biased to return to a rest position for the opened position of the closure, which is preferably a lid, wherein it is accessible for medical sharps and waste materials to be placed thereon. At its rest position, a front edge of the tray may be located adjacent to a front edge of the opening of the receptacle, with the closure being pivotally hinged to a rear edge of the receptacle opposite its front edge. With this construction, on pivoting of the tray, its front edge moves towards the opened closure, namely a lid, and its rear edge moves into the receptacle. This arrangement facilitates the provision of a wide access opening for disposal of medical sharps and waste materials into the receptacle in that the tray can provide a broad surface upon which the sharps and waste materials may be placed, which surface may be relatively widely spaced from the lid in its opened position, particularly a front edge thereof, depending upon the degree to which the lid is opened relative to the receptacle. Preferably the lid, at its opened position, extends at an angle of at least about 40° to the receptacle opening, which opening is typically the top of the receptacle.
Thus the closure in the form of a lid and the tray are arranged so that a gap exists between them and that gap is sufficient to allow sharps objects to be easily placed on the tray for subsequent disposal into the receptacle. The arrangement is such that pivotal movement of the tray upon placement of a sharps object thereon, causes a reduction in that gap so that as the tray rotates to a disposal position at which the interior of the receptacle is exposed, access to that interior is restricted by the reduced gap between the lid and the tray. That is, the tray, or a portion thereof, pivots in a direction towards the lid and the reduction in the gap therebetween is sufficient to prevent a user placing his/her hand therethrough to obtain access to within the receptacle. Preferably, the gap continues to be reduced as the tray pivots towards the lid and preferably the gap is substantially eliminated, or at least minimised at the point of disposal of the sharps object from the tray into the receptacle to prevent or effectively impede the fingers of a person disposing the sharps material from extending through the gap. It is preferable that the sharps material be deposited from the tray into the receptacle only upon pivoting of the tray to the extent that the gap is reduced the desired amount.
While both the tray and the lid may be arranged so that they limit access to within the receptacle, as discussed above, additional or alternative means may be provided to prevent access to within the receptacle when the container is being used. Such means may include guards or shields and these may be disposed to block gaps existing between various parts of the container, particularly such gaps that may be exposed during pivoting movement of the tray. In some arrangements the edges of the tray may be spaced away from other surfaces of the container, such as the Internal receptacle walls, during its path of travel, so that access to within the receptacle might be gained at those points. Gaps may, for example, exist between an end or side of the tray and the adjacent receptacle wall, prior to or during pivotal movement of the tray to dispose of a sharps object. Thus, guards may be employed for example adjacent the or each end of the tray and may have a profile complimentary to the path of the ends, so that undesirable gaps permitting access to within the receptacle do not occur when the tray is either stationary or rotating.
While in the arrangement described above the lid is maintained in a generally stationary opened position throughout disposal of sharps material, an alternative arrangement is that the lid may be caused to pivot with the tray in order to reduce the gap between the lid and the tray for the reasons discussed above.
Preferably, the tray is foldable into a folded state as necessary for storage within the container and to facilitate dosing of the container, or as a measure to save space when the container is dosed. A foldable tray provides several advantages. One advantage resides in that such a tray can be provided in a size, in the unfolded state, that is convenient for a user of the container to easily deposit sharps material thereon, but in which state it would be inconvenient or difficult for the container to be dosed if the tray were not foldable. Furthermore, the provision of a foldable tray enables a relatively large and easily accessible tray to be adopted, but that tray does not necessarily increase the overall bulk of the container particularly when the container is closed, given its foldable nature. Preferably the tray is accommodated within an upper portion of the receptacle, or within the lid that is provided to dose the container, or partly within either. The provision of a foldable tray facilitates its accommodation in the container within such spaces a

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