Objective To explore the effect of failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) on preventing blood-borne occupational exposure in surgical process. Methods According to baseline survey data of blood-borne occupational exposure in surgical process from January to December 2016, intervention in occupation exposure during surgery was performed by adopting FMEA management from January to December 2017, failure modes with risk priority number(RPN)>125 were selected for targeted rectification and continuous quality improvement. RPN score of fai-lure mode and the occurrence of blood-borne occupational exposure in surgical process before and after FMEA intervention were compared. Results After FMEA intervention, the overall RPN scores of 9 rectified failure modes in surgical process decreased by 67.68%, and RPN scores of all failure modes decreased by 50%; incidence of blood-borne occupational exposure decreased from 48.48% before FMEA intervention to 13.87% after intervention (χ²=65.78,P<0.01),incidence of exposure and per capita exposure times of each high-risk operation link of blood-borne occupational exposure were lower than those before intervention(all P<0.05). Incidence of blood-borne occupational exposure among surgeons, nurses and anaesthetists decreased from 45.86%, 55.00% and 70.00% before intervention to 14.52%, 14.29% and 0 after intervention respectively, with significant differences(all P<0.01). Conclusion Application of FMEA can effectively reduce the risk of blood-borne occupational exposure in the surgical process, standardize the operation behavior of medical personnel, and improve the awareness of occupational protection and compliance to standard prevention.