Medical waste closes 8 Long Island beaches
Eight Long Island beaches have closed after medical waste washed ashore. Dozens of needles, syringes, pill bottles and other medical wastes were found by lifeguards. Last updated: Thursday, October 11, […]
safety
Hand hygiene – is this wet work?
Not a joke, but it seems that HSE are beginning to think of the handwashing demands of some healthcare professionals as ‘wet work’. This suggests that, quite rightly, special provision […]
US medical waste truck ‘leaking’
Though there are a raft of regulations that dictate the standards for clinical waste containment, from individual sacks and bins, through larger waste carts to road vehicles for the transfer […]
Kuala Lumpur waste management failures
The Health Ministry Kuala Lumpur will take action against Radicare if investigations reveal that the company had failed to dispose of clinical waste properly. Last updated: Monday, July 8, 2019
Sri Lanka pollution from National Cancer Institute
Godigamuwa is a Sri Lankan village in Maharagama, close to the National Cancer Institute. The first thing a visitor notices is a strong chemical odour in the air. A waterway that […]
PPE for waste handlers
PPE for waste handlers is a somewhat thorny subject – many do not wear it, even when it is provided while others, many others, assume that a corporate sweatshirt or […]
Sharps bin for ambulant use
Sharps bins are generally big and bulky. 1, 2, 4, or more litres capacity, these smaller sizes may sit neatly on a desk or benchtop but for those who are […]
Pharma waste drop boxes
The simplest ideas are often the best. To manage the safe and environmentally sound disposal of community pharmaceutical wastes, several Oklahoma counties have installed pharma drop boxes at popular locations, […]
Who suffers most sharps injuries and body fluid exposures?
Sharps injury, and to a lesser extend blood and body fluid exposures, are a constant problem for health professionals and great attention is given to its prevention. However, we have raised […]
Free webinar on sharps safety in non-hospital settings
The International Healthcare Worker Safety Center is sponsoring a free webinar on a much overlooked topic: “Achieving Sharps Safety Compliance in Non-Hospital Healthcare Settings.” Last updated: Sunday, October 10, 2021
Are safety sharp devices really safe?
A couple of years ago, when the talk about the potential of safety sharp devices in reducing sharps injuries I had a wager with a good friend, that the incidence […]
Syringe horror for Aussie gardener
Yet another regional news report, this time from Australia’s Sunshine Coast, of a sharps injury from a needle discarded into undergrowth garden borders of a holiday complex and lost in […]
High prevalence of HIV, Hep B, Hep C in IV drug users
Today’s BMJ carries a short report of the World Drug Report, launched at the UN headquarters in New York where the UN’s secretary general Ban Ki-moon, said that illicit drugs cause some […]
Handling waste from Norovirus outbreaks
The Hospital Infection Society is presently reviewing the penultimate draft of its guidance document “Guidelines for the Management of Norovirus Outbreaks in Acute and Community Health and Social Care Settings”. […]
BBV transmission
The estimated rate of BBV transmission after sharps injury is widely publicised. For Hepatitis B Virus infections the risk is around 30%, for Hepatitis C 3% and for HIV infections around 0.3% risk. […]
How and where to store waste carts?
As if to prove the point made not more than an hour ago, about the inadequacy of waste storage arrangements in care and nursing homes, a news report from North […]
Take care with gloves
Correct glove use and associated hand hygiene are undoubtedly primary health and safety issues for all of those working right across the waste industries, and for those handling clinical and […]
Hazardous waste?
What is this? It looks genuine. Even the package looks convincing and seen in some general waste or on a picking line could bring things to a standstill. Last updated: […]
Hand rub dose
Alcohol hand rubs are widely used in healthcare and are finding their way into the catering and waste management sectors also. They are fast, convenient, simple to use and more […]
Sharps-related infections
We have previously discussed the wide diversity of infections that can be transmitted by sharps or needlestick injury. Last updated: Sunday, October 13, 2019
Needles discarded into recycling bins
Even a single discarded needle turning up in a recycling bin or found on a picking line can bring things to a shuddering halt. Yet more seriously, it can cause […]
Clinical waste from undertakers
Mortuaries and undertakers produce large volumes of clinical wastes. Much of this is liquid waste that would have previously been discharged to foul sewer, but with concerns about discharge of […]
Care home ‘overrun with rats’, £25k fine
It remains sadly too common that private care homes across the UK are run with appalling standards that shame our care services. Regulators are thin on the ground, but at […]
University installs sharps bins in toilets
The University of Iowa is to install needle-deposit bins in restrooms across its campus. Facilities Management will now foot the $9,000 bill for purchasing and installing the containers. Though dressing […]
Real penalties for waste violations?
Almost every familiy physician in the US operates independently, either as a basic GP of with some particular specialty. Many off additional surgeries from minor to quite major treatments in […]
Clinical wastes at the heart of the community #2
Another day, and another part of the Borough. This time, sanitary/offensive wastes in a Tiger stripe bag and one plain yellow bag sit on the pavement! Presumably left to await collection […]
Discarded needles stir worries
“In March, a Lynn elementary school student tried to give himself a pretend flu shot with a hypodermic needle he found on the street. Last month, a couple of syringes […]
Warning after needlestick injury
“Terrified mum-of-four has warned others to be alert after a discarded hypodermic needle got stuck in her hand while she was gardening. ” The woman, who wished to remain anonymous but […]
Reading to stop domestic clinical/sanitary waste collections?
‘A Labour councillor has “kicked up a stink” over a decision to stop the special collection of unpleasant clinical waste after complaints from the public. ‘Following a decision by one […]
Waste security?
Tiger stripe bags left outside a London branch of Boots the Chemist in the early morning of 21st April were not only still there today, 26th April, a full 4 […]