Bio-hazardous medical waste management West Palm Beach can be best defined as the management of waste that contains infectious materials or infectious substances. It (bio-hazardous medical waste management) includes treatment, transportation, packaging, and finally disposal itself of biohazardous waste.
However, before any of that, bio-hazardous medical waste management West Palm Beach has to begin with the classification of these wastes. There are six types of biohazardous waste. These are:
1. Human blood and blood products
2. Human body liquids
3. Pathological waste
4. Microbiological waste
5. Sharps waste
6. Animal waste.
Each of these six biohazardous waste types has its own unique properties and reasons why they are dangerous and procedures for disposal, as you will se if you continue reading this article further.
Human Blood and Blood Products
The most common definition of medical waste is that this is any kind of waste that was exposed to human blood. While this definition clearly does not explain a whole lot of things and it neglects to mention that human body liquids such as urine can also be infected, it still goes a long way to show you the influence of blood and blood products when it comes to bio-hazardous medical waste management.
It doesn’t matter if the blood is not infected, all human blood and blood products (such as plasma), as well as any items that have been contaminated by that blood are considered as bio-hazardous waste and have to be disposed of as such.
Human Body Liquids
Human body liquids, such as semen, vomit, urine, saliva, or other secretions our body produces in liquid, but also those that it produces in semi-liquid state, like feces, are considered to be bio-hazardous waste of its own. It should also be kept in mind that items contaminated by human body liquids are also often considered to be bio-hazardous wast, particularly if they possibly contain pathogens that are dangerous to humans.
Pathological Waste
Pathological waste is another type of bio-hazardous waste that comes from humans. It includes human amputated body parts, human organs and human tissues. Keep in mind, however, that skin is not considered pathological waste and that it should not be treated (or disposed of) as such.
Microbiological Waste
Medical research laboratories also produce bio-hazardous waste. This is called “microbiological waste” and it consists of lab waste that has been contaminated with infectious agents like viruses, culture dishes and specimens. The danger of microbiological waste mostly lies in the fact that, albeit there is not much of it when it comes to the quantity, the concentration of infectious agents on them can be extremely high and because of it, microbiological waste must be dealt with the utmost of care and bio-hazardous medical waste management professionalism.
Sharps Waste
Sharps waste involves medical instruments used for lacerating or piercing human skin. These could be needles, scalpels, syringes, razor blades, or scissors, but it can also included broken glass and other items capable of cutting the skin.
There is a twofold danger when it comes to sharps waste. On one side, they can injure an unwary person handling them and, on the other side, by injuring a person, a pathogen that was located on the used needle or other sharp medical instrument can also transmit to that person.
Animal Waste
Animal waste includes animal blood, body fluids, tissue, organs, body parts or carcasses, but only if they contain pathogens that can also be hazardous and infectious to humans.
Call now for West Palm Beach Bio-Hazardous Medical Waste Management.
