Arkansas Administrative Code › Agency 007 - ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH › Division 05 - Health Facility Services › Rule 007.05.13-002 - RULES AND REGULATIONS PERTAINING TO THE MANAGEMENT OF MEDICAL WASTE FROM GENERATORS AND HEALTH CARE RELATED FACILITIES

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 Ark.
			 Code Ann. § 20-7-109, Ark. Code Ann. §§ 20-32-101 through 112,
			 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, pharmaceutical 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.
DOT.
The Department of
			 Transportation.
F.
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.
G.
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.
H.
EPA.
The Environmental Protection Agency.
I.
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 or transfer facilities.
J.
Generator.
Any person or
			 source institution whose action or process produces medical waste as defined in
			 these sections.
K.
Labeling.
To write on or affix a color-coded label to a medical
			 waste package that is water resistant, legible and readily visible.
L.
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 as established by the Arkansas Department of Health and
			 which includes the 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,
			 including embalming waste 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, can be discharged into the collection system of a publicly owned
			 treatment works (POTW) within the generating facility. Breast milk, urine, and
			 feces are not considered medical waste and can also be discharged into the
			 (POTW).
3.
Contaminated
			 items
to include dressings, bandages, packing, 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, not to include feminine products, enema bags, used condoms, or
			 diapers.
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.
d. Biological waste and discarded materials
			 contaminated with blood, excretion, exudates, or secretions from isolated
			 animals known, or suspected, to be infected with communicable
			 diseases.
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 that has come in contact with specimens or
			 cultures and discarded live or attenuated vaccines.
5.
Contaminated sharps
which
			 include, but is not limited to, any contaminated object that can penetrate the
			 skin, e.g., hypodermic needles, intravenous tubing with needles attached,
			 syringes with attached needles, razor blades used in surgery, scalpel blades,
			 Pasteur pipettes, capillary tubes, broken glass from laboratories, and dental
			 wires. Potentially breakable container(s) of blood, regulated body fluid,
			 microbiological waste, or infectious material must be treated as contaminated
			 sharps when disposed of. Sharps that have been used in human or animal patient
			 care, treatment or for other medical procedures are included. Any waste
			 produced in the course of physically altering a human being or animal including
			 tattooing, ear piercing, or any other process where a foreign object is used to
			 cut or pierce the skin. All waste generated in this manner meeting the
			 definition of sharps must be handled accordingly.
6.
V eterinary waste
to include
			 any and all animal related waste (carcasses, body parts, bulk blood and blood
			 products, bedding of animals, etc.) which meets the definition of any of the
			 five categories delineated above and has been or is suspected to have been
			 exposed to a zoonotic disease or pathogens known to cause human disease, or
			 which has been exposed to human pathogens in research or the production of
			 biological,
must be handled as medical waste.
All contaminated
			 sharps and microbiological waste
must be handled as medical
			 waste.
7.
Trace
			 contaminated chemotherapy waste
that can be treated as
			 medical/infectious waste includes: masks, empty drug vials, gloves, gowns, IV
			 tubing, empty IV bags/bottles, and spill clean-up materials. Bulk chemotherapy
			 wastes to include: full expired vials of chemotherapy drugs are not considered
			 to be medical/infectious wastes; they are considered hazardous wastes and must
			 be handled accordingly.
8.
Spill/clean-up material
collected during or resulting from the
			 clean-up of a spill of regulated medical waste.
9.
Crime scene/accident/trauma
			 clean-up
waste generated by individuals or commercial entities hired to
			 clean crime scenes or accidents that are saturated with human blood, sharps, or
			 sharp objects contaminated with human blood.
M.
Mobile Treatment/Disposal
			 System.
A portable system used for the treatment/destruction of medical
			 waste.
N.
Off-site.
Any facility that is not on-site.
O.
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 existing
			 facility.
P.
OSHA.
The
			 Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Q.
Packaging.
Containment of
			 medical waste in disposable or reusable containers in such a manner as to
			 prevent exposure to the waste material.
R.
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.
S.
POTW.
Publicly owned treatment works owned by a state or municipality as defined by
			 section 502(a) of the Clean Water Act.
T.
Processing.
The handling of
			 medical waste at the generating facility after its segregation by the
			 procedures of treatment, packaging, labeling, storing, transporting and
			 disposal.
U.
Satellite
			 facilities.
Additional hospitals, affiliated off-site services and
			 physician offices or other affiliated services owned and managed by the primary
			 generator/treater.
V.
Segregation.
The separation of medical waste from other routine
			 solid waste at the time waste is generated within the generating
			 facility.
W.
Storage.
The containment of medical waste in such a manner as not to constitute
			 disposal.
X.
Transfer
			 facility.
A transporters facility permitted by the Department that may
			 be utilized for transferring medical waste from one vehicle to
			 another.
Y.
Transport.
The movement of medical waste from the point of generation to any intermediate
			 points toward the point of ultimate disposal.
Z.
Treatment.
Any method,
			 technique, or process designed to alter the character or composition of any
			 medical waste as to neutralize or render it potentially
			 non-infectious.
A.
a.
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.