Introduction Occupational accidents with biological material are an injury which can largely be prevented. This study describes the notified occupational accidents in the State of São Paulo.

Methods Descriptive data analysis of the accidents with biological material notified by SINAN in the State of São Paulo, in the period from 2007 to June 2016.

Results During this period 1 25 060 accidents were reported with biological material. 77.5% occurred in female health professionals and most frequently in the 20 and 39 years age group, in nurses and lab technicians (53.1%) followed by physicians (10.7%). Regarding the accident circumstances, 17.1% occurred during the administration of medication, inappropriate disposal of syringes and needles (15.5%) and surgical and dental procedures (15.1%). The proportions of accidents by inappropriate disposal over time remained unchanged. The accidents in procedures of realisation of capillary blood glucose test and recapping needles had a proportional decrease of two times. It was observed that 30.2% of professionals who were injured were not using gloves when administering medication, and 15.3% and 14.7%, respectively, did not do so in the procedures of blood collection and laboratory collection. Glove use during accident in surgical and dental procedures occurred in 96.7% and 95.3%, respectively. The outpatient discharge of the injured professionals occurred in 39.6% (49,557) after confirming a negative source for hepatitis B, C and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), in 22.1% (27,674) after six months of follow-up without serological conversion and in 11.6% due to abandonment of follow-up. In this period there were no cases of conversion to HIV.

Conclusion Reporting accidents with biological material is a great monitoring tool. Inadequate disposal of needles is an important cause of accidents, and their frequency remains unchanged over the years. The accidents in procedures of realisation of blood test and recapping needles had a decrease. Much more can be done to prevent accidents and improve the follow-up of accidents.