Greening healthcare
There are many pressures on hospitals and other healthcare service providers, healthcare consumables and equipment suppliers, designers, builders and operators of healthcare premises, and of those servicing the waste disposal […]
clinical waste discussion forum
Mum’s horror over needle on beach
“A furious mum has sounded a warning after her little boy came within inches of picking up a used needle on a South Tyneside beach. “Two-year-old Lucas Bain had no […]
The Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013
Consultation on proposed Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013 began on 8 August 2012. Although there is technically nothing new in these regulations they do provide codification […]
Combined fluid waste management system recalled in regulatory mix-up
The Stryker Neptune system comprises a range of totally closed fluid waste management and smoke evacuation systems consisting of a Rover and Docking Station. The mobile Rover unit collects surgical waste […]
Needle exchange in prison
In Australia, the prison system has introduced needle exchange schemes to eliminate, as far as possible, the hazards to health of needle sharing among the prison population. Rates of Hepatitis […]
VOC levels – no mirrors but plenty of smoke
VOC monitoring of waste processing sites has become an occasional requirement of the EA in permitting and maintenance of clinical waste site operations. It is doubtful that there is any unequivocal obligation […]
Sharps waste found in domestic refuse from UK hospital
Basildon Hospital is under investigation for failing to properly dispose of potentially hazardous medical waste, including used syringes. The Environment Agency are ‘probing’ how syringes and other equipment used to drain […]
Waste drug theft did not pay
The last of four co-defendants was sentenced Monday to a year in federal custody for his role in a conspiracy to intercept and resell prescription painkillers slated for destruction as […]
Reusable sharps containers
We are becoming accustomed to re-usable sharps containers, not least because of the bullish advertising of their sole manufacturer. But now, there might be a new kid on the block. […]
Pfizer offer pharma disposal guide
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer have offered a drug disposal guide but for registered customers only. Pfizer is the first pharmaceutical company to make this resource available to health care professionals to […]
Colour coding of clinical wastes from domicillary care
The selection of colour coding for clinical waste containers, dictated by the notional properties of those wastes and in particular the risk of infection – yellow or orange – is rather […]
Waste sector Health & Safety Manager, Edmonton
One of the UK’s leading integrated waste management companies is looking to recruit an experienced Health & Safety Manager. The company have developed innovative and sustainable waste management solutions and […]
The statistics of fatal accident prevention
A recent announcement from HSE records nine deaths involving the UK waste and recycling industry since June 15, 2012. That is an appalling statistic, and HSE are sending “warnings” to the […]
4 billion prescriptions annually
People in the United States took more prescription drugs than ever last year, with the number of prescriptions increasing from 3.99 billion (with a cost of $308.6 billion) in 2010 to […]
Talking dirty on healthcare waste
Interesting and well-balanced piece in Waste Management World about the production of dioxins during the incineration of clinical wastes. Claiming support from statements made by the World Health Organisation, the piece is actually […]
Needlestick emergency treatment
Many employers in the waste sector, and many Local Authorities, provide some key rules or action points for use in the event of a sharps (needlestick) injury. Repeatedly, the need to allow […]
SteriMed / SteriMed Junior users in the UK
We have an enquiry, by email, from an NHS Clinical Waste Discussion Group visitor: Does anyone know of any NHS or other medical facilities who are using the SteriMed/SteriMed […]
Yet more body bits
Tissue waste disposal – or non-disposal – is becoming something of a theme. First, it’s the US military tissue retention ‘scandal’, then the illegal DIY retention of organs by a US doctor. […]
More bizarre waste theft
“As Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), the capital city’s premier government hospital, completes inquiry into the recent theft of scores of discarded blood bags on its premises, heads are […]
Taking your work home
In the UK, regulation of tissue waste retention, storage and disposal is very tightly controlled under the Human Tissue Act 2004. Elsewhere, regulation is not so tight but with a […]
Pinoy inventors develop Pyroclave
With few, if any environmentally-friendly, low-cost options for safe disposal of infectious wastes that might be used in resource-poor regions, there has for many years been a need for technical […]
Another community sharps hazard?
The recent trend – is is a craze? – for tanning salons that results in young women, and many others who are old enough to know better, turning into something the […]
Theft of drugs
We have many times reported on the theft of sharps bins for the drug waste that they contain, and on cases where healthcare staff and waste handlers had targeted these […]
Lies, damn lies, and statistics?
Daniels International are now evaluating their Clinismart system in the UK and elsewhere. Surrounded by the full range of ‘in your face’ advertising that has been a feature of Daniels Sharpsmart […]
How many uses for a sharps bin?
Over the years, I have seen sharps bins used for a variety of purposes, for collecting sharps and related wastes but also as an impromptu flower vase both on a […]
On-site gasification of offensive waste
The Hampshire, UK-based company PyroPure has developed a small-scale on-site thermal treatment unit intended, at least initially, for offensive wastes. At around the size of a chest freezer the system […]
Pharma product wrappers, vials & containers
In his excellent publication Hospital Waste, volume 14/3, Alan B Jones writes from the US perspective of the disposal of the various wrappers, vials & containers that had previously contained […]
A Word Search of Waste
This Word Search of Waste first appeared in Volume 10 of the Clinical Waste Discussion Forum Newsletter. Answers, and so much more, can be found in the Newsletter archive. […]
A Word Search of Waste
This Word Search of Waste first appeared in Volume 8 of the Clinical Waste Discussion Forum Newsletter. Answers, and so much more, can be found in the Newsletter archive. Last updated: […]
A Word Search of Waste
This Word Search of Waste first appeared in Volume 7 of the Clinical Waste Discussion Forum Newsletter. Answers, and so much more, can be found in the Newsletter archive. […]