By Othon Jarle
Before now, medical wastes although collected in special bags within health facilities were ultimately disposed the same way regular trash were disposed of. As time passed, it was discovered that disposing medical waste alongside regular trash was unsafe for the public as it has sometimes resulted in spread of diseases and viruses and even in some cases, cause outbreaks. Thus, medical waste began to be specially taken care of and even companies sprung up with the objective of rendering safe medical waste disposal services Minneapolis Minnesota.
Medical waste are of several types, amongst which are pathological waste, radioactive waste, pharmaceutical waste and contaminated sharps. This article would focus on contaminated sharps and how to properly dispose them.
What Are Sharps?
In the field of medicine, sharps are those objects that can pierce the skin. Examples of these include scalpels, needles, razors, epi pens and even broken glass.
What Dangers Do They Pose?
Ordinarily, sharps would only pose the threat of cuts and bleeding to a person, but in settings like medical facilities, the risks of carelessly handling sharps goes beyond just getting a cut. What if the sharp you came in contact with has previously been used on a sick person with a contaminable disease? Now that is a real danger. It is because of dangers like these that medical facilities are now required by law to handle and dispose these medical waste with caution.
How Are Sharps Disposed?
Firstly, there are several specially designed sharps disposal containers that can be found in health facilities where sharps are put into once they have been used. Thereafter, any of the following three method could be used to dispose them
- Pickup: this means that the health facilities correctly bags and carefully stores the sharps on-site until the company that offers them medical waste disposal services Minneapolis Minnesota comes around to pick them up.
- Via Mail: you might be surprised to find out that it is legal to actually send sharps waste through the mail, so long as they are properly packaged and labeled. That sounds good right? Yes, if the health care facility doesn’t generate a lot of sharps waste and on a regular basis.
- On-Site Treatment: this is the option that some facilities choose to go for. It involves the use of highly specialized equipment to completely disinfect and sometimes recycle sharps. Not all facilities can have their medical wastes treated on-site as it is a huge financial undertaking to set up the treatment site.
Why Does It Matter?
As pointed at on the onset of this article, to avoid the spread of disease, virus or an outbreak, then all medical wastes including sharps must be properly disposed.
There is also the case of fines and legal lawsuits that your facility could face if you do not handle your medical waste properly. So, except you are ready to pay more than double what it would cost you to procure professional medical waste disposal services Minneapolis Minnesota in fines and legal fees, its best you do what’s right now.
