When it comes to managing the hazardous waste in your medical facility, what “you don’t know you don’t know” can hurt you. If hazardous wastes aren’t managed properly, your medical facility could be at risk for fines, legal action, or a public relations nightmare.
Hospitals ranked third – behind printed circuit board manufacturers and copper foundries – on the Environmental Protection Agency’s list of sectors with the most violations relating to hazardous wastes. And the EPA is not the only regulatory agency that can weigh in. Hospitals without good hazardous waste management procedures can also end up in the crosshairs of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Department of Transportation (DOT), and one or more state regulatory bodies.
Many hospitals make errors in their hazardous waste determinations – that is, personnel assume certain chemicals are hazardous, when they’re not, or conversely, mis-classify other waste that in fact classified as hazardous. When that occurs, the hospital is almost certainly failing to handle actual hazardous wastes properly, while at the same paying a premium to handle materials that aren’t classified as hazardous by the EPA or other regulatory agencies.
W&M Environmental Group’s Lori Siegelman outlines these and other risks of improper waste management – and steps you can take to ensure compliance — in our new White Paper. Click the Request White Paper button above to read.