[Underreporting of accidents with cutting and piercing objects in nursing].

This study aimed at: identifying occupational accidents caused by percutaneous injuries among nursing workers, identifying whether or not accidents were reported and at learning about the reason for non-reporting. It is a descriptive study with a quantitative analysis of the data collected through the interview technique applied to 394 nursing workers from two hospitals in São Paulo State. The results showed that 30% of the 394 workers had an accident in 2001 and of such accidents, 277 (70.30%) were caused by percutaneous injuries, 173 (62.45%) accidents were reported and 104 (37.55%) were not reported. The reasons leading to non-reporting were related to beliefs, lack of knowledge and information concerning contamination risks and to the form of data recording.