“St. Elizabeth Hospital in Belleville, Illinois is to pay a $10,000 state fine for allegedly failing to properly store hazardous waste and for other violations.
“The fine stems from an inspection of the Belleville hospital in Sept. 2011 by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. The violations allegedly occurred in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
“The inspectors allegedly found 178 one-gallon plastic bottles containing spent solvents used to “de-water” human tissue were not labelled within the hospital’s hazardous waste cage.
“The hospital also allegedly did not have a plan in case a fire or other disaster unexpectedly released hazardous waste.
“Other alleged violations include failing to:
- Maintain aisle space in the hazardous waste cage in the hospital’s basement
- Conduct weekly inspections
- File necessary waste reports to state officials
- Ensure all employees complete training in hazardous waste management
- Maintain spill control equipment
http://www.bnd.com/2013/12/13/2958325/st-elizabeths-hospital-to-pay.html#storylink=cpy
This is one of a small number of fines issued to hospitals for failure to manage their wastes properly – fewer still in the UK, where the Environment Agency prefer to chase waste management companies while ignoring that many, perhaps most, of the infringements that arise, or errors in waste segregation, classification, packaging, storage etc are the responsibility of the producer and not the carrier.
The standards of clinical waste management and storage in UK hospitals has been a matter of repeated audit, in 2005/6 and in 2006/7 with little improvement noted between those dates. I sometimes doubt if anybody really cares.
Standards of clinical waste management in UK hospitals. Journal of Hospital Infection 2006; 62: 300-303
Standards of clinical waste management in hospitals – a second look. Public Health 2007; 121: 540-545