Appendix 1
Model of Policies and Procedures
Written policies and procedures must be developed that incorporate the following:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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".