Is your office making costly medical disposal mistakes? Medical waste is generated by all medical and healthcare facilities such as hospitals, clinics, dental offices, veterinary clinics, laboratories . Federal, state, and even local laws order them to create an operational medical waste management protocol in order to ensure the safety of its workers and the environment.
There exist several common mistakes that many facilities make when they dispose medical waste like bio-hazardous waste, animal waste, radioactive waste and unused pharmaceuticals. Try to be convinced your office isn’t making costly inefficient mistakes.
Disposing Solid Waste As Regulated Medical Waste (RMW)
The most common mistake isconsidered the needlessly disposal n of solid waste as regulated medical waste. Based on federal law, solid waste is only to be disposed of as RMW if the solid waste had come into contact with contaminated materials.
it is a pity, there are many generators who have adopted a laissez-faire approach towards the disposal of both solid waste and regulated medical waste. Besides being dangerous mismanagement, it also proves costly to the healthcare facility, as the disposal of regulated medical waste costs more than solid waste.
Inconsistent Medical Waste Management Training For Medical Staff
The training of medical staff in waste disposal practices is included in Medical Waste Management typically; however, the consistency of such training, for many medical and healthcare facilities, often peters out.
Fortunately, there exist a lot of agencies such as the EPA, OSHA, etc., that makes resources available for healthcare facilities to formulate a training program that will ensure the employees’ safety of, as well as decrease the chances of infection and/or contamination.
In addition to this, there are some reputable medical waste transporters/haulers which offer assistance in the form of training staff to stay within federal and state regulations.
Failing To Transport Medical Waste According To Federal And State Regulations
In accordance with merriinc.com, there exist some healthcare facilities that are not transporting untreated and treated medical waste in a right way. Some common issues include; transporting regulated medical waste in improper containers and utilizing medical waste transports/haulers that do not have a permit to transport medical waste weighing over 50 pounds.
These breaches result in heavy penalties to both the transporter/hauler and the medical or healthcare facility.
Treating And Disposing Of Medical Waste Using Environmentally Dangerous Methods
Treating and disposing of medical waste with the help of usage of the method of incineration has been approved on federal, state, and local levels. However, according to Health Care Without Harm, incinerators contribute significantly to dioxin, mercury, lead and other pollutants that threaten the general populace. Is it possible that this method of treating medical waste is just as harmful as the waste itself?
In order to give a correct answer to this question, many companies have processed environmentally friendly technology to be made available to medical waste treatment facilities to ensure that medical waste is not only treated effectively, but that the residue generated does not have a harmful effect on the environment.
The generators must first of all review individual state and local laws regarding medical waste management practices. Medical and healthcare facilities can also keep abreast of regulations defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the US Department of Health (DOH), and/or the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), regarding best medical waste disposal practices. As always, Glycon provides Glendale Medical Waste Disposal is here to answer any questions regarding your facilities compliance and medical waste disposal requirements.