ISO 23907-2:2019

Overview

ISO 23907-2:2019 - "Sharps injury protection - Requirements and test methods - Part 2: Reusable sharps containers" specifies safety, performance and testing requirements for reusable sharps containers used to collect potentially hazardous medical sharps (needles, syringes, scalpels, trocars). The standard covers containers supplied complete or as components for user assembly and excludes single‑use containers (see ISO 23907-1). Key aims are to reduce sharps injury risk, ensure leak‑resistance and durability, and validate cleaning/decontamination and reuse processes.

Key topics and technical requirements

ISO 23907-2 addresses design, functional safety and validated testing for reusable sharps containers. Major technical topics include:

• Design and construction: materials, fill volume/line, base colour guidance, user‑centric features to reduce misuse and overfilling.
• Aperture and closure: safe deposit openings, temporary and permanent closure features, and one‑handed needle disconnection where applicable.
• Mechanical stability and strength: container stability, resistance to toppling, strength of handles and secondary stabilizers.
• Penetration resistance: requirements and test methods to prevent needle penetration of the containment area.
• Damage and leakage testing: drop and toppling tests to verify leak‑resistance and structural integrity after handling incidents.
• Lifespan simulation: conditioning cycles that simulate transport, handling and repeated processing across the validated number of reuses.
• Cleaning, decontamination and microbiological validation: validated processes to render containers safe for handling and reuse; includes microbiological validation and post‑decontamination quality monitoring.
• Quality monitoring, labelling and instructions for use: marking, user instructions, allowable gross mass and lifecycle tracking to support safe reuse.

Practical applications and who uses it

ISO 23907-2 is practical for:

• Manufacturers of reusable sharps containers - for design, testing, validation and product labelling.
• Test laboratories and conformity assessors - to perform mechanical, penetration and microbiological tests.
• Healthcare procurement and infection control teams - to specify safe reusable sharps solutions and validate cleaning/processing protocols.
• Sterile processing/decontamination services - to develop validated cleaning and reuse workflows that meet microbiological requirements.
• Regulatory bodies and risk managers - for device classification, safety review and risk assessment (ISO 14971 is relevant for medical device risk management).

Using ISO 23907-2 helps organizations improve sharps injury protection, ensure regulatory alignment, and reduce waste through validated reuse strategies.

Related standards

• ISO 23907-1 (single‑use sharps containers)
• ISO 7864 (sterile hypodermic needles for single use) - normative reference
• ISO 14971 (medical device risk management) - relevant for manufacturers classifying containers as medical devices

Keywords: ISO 23907-2, reusable sharps containers, sharps injury protection, cleaning and decontamination, microbiological validation, lifespan simulation, medical waste safety, infection control.