A syringe injection shield (100) is formed primarily from a radio-opaquesubstance, such as tungsten, to shield medical personnel from exposure toradiation during administration of radiopharmaceuticals to patients. Safetysyringes (22) typically have a needle sheath that can be positioned around aneedle (24) after administration of the radiopharmaceutical. The syringeinjection shield of the present invention allows medical personnel to make thesyringe "safe" before the used syringe is removed from the syringe injectionshield. The syringe is safe when the needle sheath is positioned and locked inplace around the needle to reduce the risk of needle stick. The syringeinjection shield includes a toggle element (110) that can assume fourdifferent positions as follows: neutral ready hold and release.
