Arkansas Administrative Code › Agency 007 - ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH › Division 15 - Health Maintenance/Epidemiology › Rule 007.15.00-001 - Rules Pertaining to the Disposal of Medical Waste

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, June, 2024
SECTION I
- AUTHORITY.
The
			 Rules and Regulations pertaining to the definition, segregation, treatment,
			 packaging, labeling, storage, transport and disposal of medical waste from
			 generators and health care related facilities are hereby promulgated pursuant
			 to the authority conferred by Act 96 of 1913, as amended, the same being A.C.A.
			 20-7-109,
			 Act 41 of 1992 and Acts 491 and 861 of 1993, the same being A.C.A.
			 20-32-101
			 through 112, and Act 150 of 1999, the same being A.C.A
			 20-32-108.
			 These Rules and Regulations are in consonance with the Occupational Safety and
			 Health Administration 29 CFR Part 1910.1030; "Occupational Exposure to
			 Bloodborne Pathogens" standard.
SECTION
			 II
- PURPOSE.
The purpose of these sections is to
			 provide a definition of medical waste from generators and health care related
			 facilities, identify entities that are subject to provisions of these sections
			 and to establish criteria for the proper management of such waste materials in
			 order to protect the public health. The management, transportation, treatment
			 and disposal of chemical and radioactive wastes are not included since proper
			 disposal of these items is governed by other regulations.
SECTION III
- DEFINITIONS.
A.
ADEQ
- the Arkansas
			 Department of Environmental Quality.
B.1
Commercial medical waste.
Any
			 medical waste transported from a generator to an off-site facility for
			 treatment/disposal where such off-site treatment/disposal facility is engaged
			 in medical waste treatment/disposal for profit and/or medical waste
			 treated/disposed on-site by a commercial treatment/disposal mobile unit
			 operated as a business for profit.
B.2.
Commercial medical waste
			 incineration facility.
Any facility accepting medical waste materials
			 for treatment and disposal by incineration from an off-site source and
			 operating the treatment and disposal facility as a business for
			 profit.
B.3.
Commercial
			 non-incinerator Treatment, Storage, and/or Disposal (TSD) facility.
All
			 contiguous land and structures, other appurtenances and improvements on the
			 land used for treating and/or destroying and/or storing and/or disposing of
			 commercial medical waste as a business for profit. A Treatment, Storage, and/or
			 Disposal (TSD) facility may consist of several treatment, destruction, storage
			 or disposal operational units under the same facility management.
B.4
Commercial treater/disposer.
An entity that receives medical waste from various sources for treatment
			 and disposal as a business for profit.
C.
Contaminated.
The presence
			 or the reasonably anticipated presence of blood or other potentially infectious
			 materials on an item or surface.
D.
Department.
The Arkansas Department of Health.
E.
Destruction.
The process of
			 changing the original characteristics of medical waste where it is
			 unrecognizable and may no longer be able to transmit an infectious disease when
			 handled or disposed.
F.
Disposal.
The deposit, discharge, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing
			 of any medical waste into or on any land or waters so that such waste or any
			 constituent thereof may enter the environment.
G.
Facility.
All contiguous
			 land and structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on the land, used
			 for treating, destroying, storing, or disposing of medical waste, provided that
			 all land and structures are under control of a single person or legal entity. A
			 facility may consist of several treatment, destruction, storage, or disposal
			 operational units.
H.
Generator.
Any person or source institution whose action or process
			 produces medical waste as defined in these sections.
I.
Labeling.
To write on or
			 affix a color-coded label to a medical waste package that is water resistant,
			 legible and readily visible.
J.
Off-site.
Any facility which is not on-site.
K.
On-site.
A facility on the
			 same or adjacent property with adjacent meaning real property within four
			 hundred (400) yards from the property boundary of the exiting
			 facility.
L.
Packaging.
Containment of medical waste in disposable or reusable containers in
			 such a manner as to prevent exposure to the waste material.
M.
Person.
Any individual,
			 partnership, company, corporation, association, firm, organization, Federal and
			 State government, or any other group of individuals, or any officer or employee
			 thereof.
N.
POTW.
Publicly owned treatment works owned by a state or municipality as
			 defined by section 502(a) of the Clean Water Act.
O.
Medical Waste.
A waste from
			 a generator or a health care related facility as outlined in Section IV, which,
			 if improperly treated, handled, or disposed of may serve to transmit an
			 infectious-disease andwhich mcludesme-following:
1.
Pathological waste
- all human unfixed tissues,
			 organs and anatomical parts, other than intact skin, which emanate from
			 surgeries, obstetrical procedures, dental procedures, autopsies and
			 laboratories. Such waste shall be exclusive of bulk formaldehyde and other
			 preservative agents.
2.
Liquid or semi-liquid blood
such as human blood, human blood
			 components and/or products made from human blood (e.g., serum, plasma) and
			 other potentially infectious materials, to include regulated human body fluids
			 such as semen, vaginal secretions, cerebrospinal fluid, pleural fluid,
			 pericardial fluid, synovial fluid, peritoneal fluid, amniotic fluid, saliva in
			 dental procedures, any body fluid that is visibly contaminated with blood and
			 all body fluids where it is difficult or impossible to differentiate between
			 body fluids, not to include urine or feces, which cannot be discharged into the
			 collection system of a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) within the
			 generating facility.
3.
Contaminated items
to include dressings, bandages, packings,
			 gauze, sponges, wipes, personal protective equipment, cotton rolls and balls,
			 etc., which cannot be laundered or disinfected and from which blood, blood
			 components, or regulated body fluids drip freely, or that would release blood
			 or regulated body fluids in a liquid or semi-liquid state if compressed or are
			 caked with dried blood or regulated body fluids and all capable of releasing
			 these materials during handling.
a.
			 Contaminated disposable, single-use gloves such as surgical or examination
			 gloves shall not be washed or decontaminated for reuse and are to be handled as
			 a contaminated item.
b. Protective
			 coverings such as plastic wrap and aluminum foil used to cover equipment and
			 environmental surfaces when removed following their contamination are
			 considered a contaminated item.
c.
			 All patient care items from hospital isolation rooms and end-stage renal
			 dialysis units, or from patients with communicable diseases, which cannot be
			 laundered and which are contaminated with regulated body fluids or blood or
			 potential infectious material, must be considered a contaminated
			 item.
4.
Microbiological waste
which includes, but is not limited to, cells
			 and tissue cultures, culture medium or other solutions and stocks of infectious
			 agents, organ cultures, culture dishes, devices used to transfer, inoculate and
			 mix cultures, paper and cloth which has come in contact with specimens or
			 cultures and discarded live vaccines
5.
Contaminated sharps
which
			 includes, but is not limited to, any contaminated object that canpenetratethe
			 skin,e.g., hypoderniic needles ,-mtravenous-mbmg-wm needles attached, syringes
			 with attached needles, razor blades used in surgery, scalpel blades, Pasteur
			 pipettes, capillary tubes, broken glass from laboratories, and dental wires.
			 (Potential breakable container(s) of blood, regulated body fluid,
			 microbiological waste, or infectious material must be treated as contaminated
			 sharps when disposed of.
P.
Mobile Treatment/Disposal System.
A portable system used for the treatment/destruction of medical
			 waste.
Q.
Processing.
The handling of medical waste at the generating facility after its
			 segregation by the procedures of treatment, packaging, labeling, storing,
			 transporting and disposal.
R.
Segregation.
The separation of medical waste from other routine
			 solid waste at the time waste is generated within the generating
			 facility.
S.
Storage.
The containment of medical waste in such a manner as not to constitute
			 disposal.
T.
Transport.
The movement of medical waste from the point of generation to any
			 intermediate points toward the point of ultimate disposal.
U.
Treatment.
Any method,
			 technique, or process designed to alter the character or composition of any
			 medical waste so to neutralize or render it potentially
			 non-infectious.
V.
Unrecognizable.
Physically altered to a state where the item is no
			 longer usable for its original intended purpose nor identifiable as to its use
			 or source.