Appendix 1

Model of Policies and Procedures

Written policies and procedures must be developed that incorporate the following:

  1. Information must be available to clients and staff indicating that any sharps brought into the community based organization (CBO) for disposal must be contained within sealed, puncture-resistant, leak-proof containers that assure the safety of the client and/or anyone else who may come into contact with the container.  Examples of such containers include personal sharps containers sold or furnished by a pharmacy or health care provider or puncture resistant bleach or detergent containers with screw on tops.
  2. Properly contained sharps that are brought in for collection must either be immediately placed by the client into a kiosk or drop box or placed by a trained employee into a collection receptacle. 
  3. The larger, puncture resistant collection receptacle, kiosk, or drop box (i.e., the container into which the already-contained sharps are placed by either the customer or CBO staff) must be:
    • prominently marked with either the word "sharps", the universal warning sign or the word "bio-hazard",
    • secured in a manner such that only employees or other appropriately trained persons, such as regulated medical waste disposal staff, have access to used sharps containers; and,
    • placed in an area that can be monitored at all times.
      In no circumstance should an employee reach into a personal sharps container, kiosk, or drop box.
  4. Individual sharps containers collected at a CBO must be packaged in a rigid, sealed container prior to being transported off-site to another collection point or for disposal.  Such containers must bear the imprint of or have a firmly attached label with the name and address of the CBO that collected the sharps, the date the container was transported and the universal warning sign or the word "bio-hazard".