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#1 Posted : 01 December 2008 15:28:00(UTC)
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Posted By Charles Robinson Tech IOSH
There is currently an e-mail going about regarding needle stick injuries I have searched for its source:
Title Officer safety
Metropolitan Police
CO17 Transport OCU Briefing
Dated w/c 20/10/2008

and found nothing on their sites but have located a source from Corgi

http://www.trustcorgi.co...NeedleStickInjuries.htmx

I think it could be a hoax? any ideas
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#2 Posted : 01 December 2008 15:35:00(UTC)
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Posted By phil beresford
I've seen it too from a different source. Didn't strike me as a hoax
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#3 Posted : 01 December 2008 15:51:00(UTC)
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Posted By Charles Robinson Tech IOSH
Without finding a definate source I assume it may be similar to the following hoax stories
at:
http://www.health.uab.edu/17745/?txc-more=4102

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#4 Posted : 01 December 2008 17:04:00(UTC)
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Posted By Ron Hunter
Given the amount of real "booby trap" scenarios previously encoutered by LAs in house clearances, toilet cleaning etc., I would resist any attempt to label this as some sort of hoax.
People need to be vigilant out there, and this message about boob-trapped wall mounted light rocker-switches serves as a useful reminder.
CORGI certainly took it serioulsy.
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#5 Posted : 01 December 2008 17:05:00(UTC)
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Posted By Ron Hunter
Given the amount of real "booby trap" scenarios previously encoutered by LAs in house clearances, toilet cleaning etc., I would resist any attempt to label this as some sort of hoax.
People need to be vigilant out there, and this message about boob-trapped wall mounted light rocker-switches serves as a useful reminder.
CORGI certainly took it seriously.
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#6 Posted : 01 December 2008 17:29:00(UTC)
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Posted By Chris Packham
May I support Ron's comments. I once attended a course which dealt with training those EHOs who had to enter houses reposessed and previously occupied by drug addicts. It was a revelation for me to see how devious (and vicious) some of these people can be. Hiding places included under toilet seats, in carpets and soft furnishings, under bannisters, light switches, etc. etc.

I had to deal once with an electricity generating and distribution organisation who were having problems with needles stuck in the doors of sub-stations.

So for me no hoax, but the reality of the world out there.

Chris
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#7 Posted : 01 December 2008 17:55:00(UTC)
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Posted By Brett Day

I used to do work for retail organisations and during refits had to flag up to contractors that when they were working in the public toilets that there was a high likelyhood of finding used syringes abve the ceiling tiles. It was quite common for addicts to shoot up then throw the used syringes up into the ceiling space when finished, not out of malice but so they wouldn't be caught with drugs paraphanalia.

Many shopping centres now have fixed ceiling tiles so they can't be removed and the blue tinted lamps (it makes it hard to find veins) in the public toilets as a result.
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#8 Posted : 01 December 2008 18:26:00(UTC)
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#9 Posted : 01 December 2008 22:33:00(UTC)
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Posted By James Larkin
Has anyone got a risk assessment for prevention of needle stick injuries. iam new to this potential hazard and would appreciate some sign posting.
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#10 Posted : 02 December 2008 08:16:00(UTC)
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Posted By Charles Robinson Tech IOSH
While I am aware of the risks from needle sticks and the precautions needed to protect people from these risks without an authoritive source I still think this one is a hoax designed to get people in organisations forwarding them to all of their contacts.

the following two e-mails recently circulated, are supposed to be from reliable sources though on checking Torbay council web site there is no ref. to be found.

The second one is identical to a hoax listed on McAfee discovered 09/27//2007 at:

http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_143338.htm


LADIES PLEASE READ - MEN PLEASE FORWARD TO LADIES YOU KNOW
This incident has been confirmed
Neighbourhood Watch Message sent from Torbay Council
A man came over and offered his services as a painter to a female putting petrol in her car and left his card. She said no, but accepted his card out of kindness and got in the car. The man then got into a car driven by another gentleman. As the lady left the service station, she saw the men following her out of the station at the same time. Almost immediately, she started to feel dizzy and could not catch her breath. She tried to open the window and realized that the odour was on her hand; the same hand which accepted the card from the gentleman at the service station.
She then noticed the men were immediately behind her and she felt she needed to do something at that moment. She drove into the first driveway and began to honk her horn repeatedly to ask for help. The men drove away but the lady still felt pretty bad for several minutes after she could finally catch her breath. Apparently, there was a substance on the card that could have seriously injured her. This drug is used by people who wish to incapacitate a victim in order to steal from or take advantage of them. This drug is four times more dangerous than the date rape drug and is transferable on simple cards. So take heed and make sure you don't accept cards at any given time alone or from someone on the streets. This applies to those making house calls and slipping you a card when they offer their services.
PLEASE SEND THIS E-MAIL ALERT TO EVERY FEMALE YOU KNOW


Check the site link…snopes…and
you’ll see this is NOT a hoax.
VERY IMPORTANT - BIG VIRUS COMING !!! PLEASE READ
Hi All, I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and
they are gearing up for this virus!
I checked Snopes (URL above:), and it is for
real!!
Get this E-mail message sent around to your
contacts ASAP.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY
AND CONTACTS!
You should be alert during the next few days. Do
not open any message with an attachment entitled 'POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK,'
regardless of who sent it to you.
It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which
'burns' the whole hard disc C of your computer.
This virus will be received from someone who has
your e-mail address in his/her contact list.
This is the reason why you need to send this
e-mail to all your contacts It is better to receive this message 25 times than
to receive the virus and open it.
If you receive a mail called' POSTCARD,' even
though sent to you by a friend, do not open it! Shut down your computer
immediately.
This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and
there is no repair yet for this kind of virus.
This is the worst virus announced by CNN. It has
been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.
This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the
Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.
BENEFIT ALL OF US




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#11 Posted : 02 December 2008 09:22:00(UTC)
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Posted By Amandac
To echo previous posts I would not take this as a hoax given the website it is on, CORGI is a reputable organisation who have the opportunity to get information from various sectors, predominantly the HSE.
In previous occupations I have come across used drug paraphernalia in the most unusual places, as said before many places are used to inflict injuries on enforcement personnel.
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#12 Posted : 02 December 2008 09:51:00(UTC)
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Posted By Scotty
My thoughts are similar to those already posted. Not likely to be a hoax - this is a very real scenario, where IVDUs will hide their paraphenalia in all sorts of places to avoid being caught. I have found them in the strangest of places as well - so this seems to be a well-meaning alert to the realities of some aspects of modern (?) life.

Cheers.
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#13 Posted : 02 December 2008 12:44:00(UTC)
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Posted By Ron Hunter
I accept that on rare ocassions people who should know better get fooled by the hoaxes (HSE etc and the mobile phones on forecourts spring to mind), but this particular 'alert' does (IMHO) have a proper place in informing those who encounter needles in their day to day work.
Let's leave the snopes stuff on the snopes site?
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#14 Posted : 05 January 2009 15:10:00(UTC)
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Posted By Ian Axford-Hawkes
I have checked with the Met Police and they have confirmed that the warning did originate from them.

Ian A-H

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