Delray Beach Medical wastes can have a number of adverse effects on the health of those who handle it, the public or the environment and the only way to reduce this is if the health care facilities that produce it follow proper bio-medical waste management procedures in treating and disposing of that waste.
What is Medical Waste?
The term medical waste, refers to any waste produced as the result of treatment, diagnosis or researching in hospitals, medical clinics, laboratories, dental offices and other health care facilities, that is contaminated by human blood or other bodily fluids. Medical waste includes items contaminated by blood such as sharps waste (needles, syringes with needles attached, used surgical scalpels, etc), blood-soaked bandages and other times soaked with blood culture dishes, as well as human blood, body fluids and pathological waste (body parts, organs and tissue). Skin is not considered as medical waste. Animal waste is only considered to be bio-hazardous if it contains pathogens that are also dangerous to humans.
What are the Effects of Medical Waste?
One of the most important things about bio-medical waste management Delray Beach that needs to be addressed are the effects of it. This waste can have both direct and indirect effects.
The direct effects of medical waste come from it not being disposed of properly. In such a situation, a person handling the waste (a worker from the medical waste management Delray Beach company) can accidentally stab himself on an used needle and infect himself with a blood-borne virus such as HIV.
Additionally, with improper disposal of medical wastes, the pathogens can end up in the groundwater or the soil and pollute our food and drinking supplies.
On the other hand, when it comes to the indirect effects of medical wastes, especially biological ones, they can be a breeding ground for pathogens not previously present when the waste was disposed of. The human immune system does a great job at keeping most pathogens at bay. However, once the body part or organ has been removed or amputated from the body, it can no longer avail itself of our immune system and becomes a perfect breeding ground for all types of pathogens. These pathogens can then grow in such numbers and mutate into forms that our immune systems would be powerless against.
Bio-Medical Waste Management Delray Beach
Proper bio-medical waste management Delray Beach is important to keep both direct and indirect adverse effects from happening. Medical waste management needs to include classification of medical wastes and their segregation from regular wastes, which is done before anything else in order to know what personal protective equipment, treatment and disposal methods to use when handling medical wastes.
Bio-medical waste management Delray Beach is something that concerns all of us, so if you witness medical waste to be disposed of improperly somewhere in your neighborhood, alert the relevant government authority in your state about it. Whatever you do, do not try to handle the waste yourself.
