Policy Manual sample

MDT Home Health Care Agency, Inc. POLICY ON WASTE DISPOSAL In compliance with administrative codes on the subject of biohazardous waste, MDT Home Health Care Agency, Inc. hereby sets out the following policy in relation to procedures to be followed regarding the handling and disposal of medical wastes generated by our personnel in the course of their routine day-today work. SCOPE: This rule prescribes minimum sanitary practices relating to the segregation, handling, labeling, storage, treatment and disposal of biohazardous waste to ensure that the waste is properly handled to eliminate the exposure to employees, patients and the general public to disease causing agents. MEANING OF BIOHAZARDOUS WASTE: This term stands for any solid waste or liquid waste which may present a threat of infection to humans. It includes, but is not limited to: non-liquid human tissue and body parts; laboratory and veterinary waste which contain human disease causing agents. It also includes discarded sharps, human blood, human blood products and body fluids. Also included in this list are: 1. Used, absorbent materials such as bandages, gauze or sponged supersaturated, having the potential to drip or splash with blood or body fluids from areas such as operating rooms, delivery rooms, trauma centers, emergency rooms or autopsy rooms. 2. Devices which retain visible blood adhering to inner surfaces after use and rinsing, such as intravenous tubing, hemodialysis filters and catheters, medical devices used in the treatment of hepatitis "B" virus or Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV from suspected or positive patients, all of which shall be segregated as biohazardous waste. 3. Other contaminated solid waste materials which represent a significant risk of infection because they are generated in medical facilities which care for persons suffering from disease requiring strict isolation criteria and listed by the US Department of Health and Human Services's Center for Disease Control (CDC). AGENCY POLICY: MDT Home Health Care Agency, Inc. has contracted with for a joint effort in waste disposal (please see attached copy of contract). All biohazardous wastes generated in the home of a patient shall be disposed of in our special biohazardous waste containers. Upon leaving the patient's home, the health employee shall transport the special container to our head office, from where will pick them up. The wastes, placed in special biohazardous waste containers, are deposited in a box, and an agent will pick them up every 30 days. COMPLIANCE: It is the responsibility of all employees of this agency to comply with the waste disposal policy. Biohazardous waste containers are kept in this office, and employees must pick them up before visiting a patient, and must return them to the office at the end of the visit. Home Health Agency - - Skilled Professional Services D-36