Broken Needle and Sharps Control Procedure

Purpose. This procedure controls the issue, replacement, reconciliation and disposal of sewing machine needles, blades, pins and scissors so that no sharp fragment reaches a customer or injures a worker.

1.Why this matters

A needle fragment left in a garment is a serious product safety hazard, particularly in school uniforms and infant wear, and a broken needle on the floor is an injury risk. Uniform clients audit needle control records. Every needle change must therefore be accounted for and every fragment recovered.

2.Needle issue

Needles are held in the locked needle cabinet controlled by the floor needle controller. A machinist who needs a new needle must bring the old needle, or every fragment of a broken needle, to the needle controller and exchange it one for one. The controller will record the machine number, operator, needle type, reason for change and time in the needle register held with the work order board.

3.Broken needle response

When a needle breaks, the machinist must stop the machine immediately, remove the garment and all pieces in the immediate area, and search the machine bed, bobbin area, garment and floor for every fragment. Fragments must be taped to the broken needle card and matched against the outline of a complete needle. If all fragments are recovered, the card is signed by the machinist and the needle controller and filed with the work order.

4.When fragments cannot be found

If any fragment is missing after five minutes of searching, the machinist must call the Production Manager. All garments and bundles within two metres of the machine must be quarantined and passed through the hand-held metal detector. Garments that alarm must be opened and the fragment removed or the garment destroyed. The event must be entered in the WHS Incident and Hazard Register and the Quality Inspection Log with the work order number and the garments affected.

• Stop the machine and isolate the area
• Quarantine bundles within two metres
• Scan every garment and bundle with the metal detector
• Record the search result and disposition on the broken needle card and in the registers

5.Blades, pins and scissors

Cutting room blades and band knife blades must be exchanged one for one with the Production Manager and disposed of in the sharps container. Scissors and snips are issued by number to each workstation and must be accounted for at the end of each shift. Pins are not used on the production floor; clips and notches are used instead.

6.Reconciliation and disposal

The needle controller will reconcile the needle register against the cabinet count at the end of each shift and report any discrepancy to the Production Manager before leaving. Used needles and fragments must be placed in the sealed sharps container, which is emptied by the Quality and WHS Coordinator when three quarters full.