Appendix 1
Model Policies and Procedures
Written policies and procedures must be developed that incorporate the following:
- Information must be available to customers and staff indicating that any sharps brought into the pharmacy for disposal must be contained within sealed, puncture-resistant, leak-proof containers that assure the safety of the customer 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 customer 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 pharmacy staff) must be
- prominently marked with either the word "sharps", the universal warning sign or the word "biohazard",
- 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.
- Individual sharps containers collected at a pharmacy 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 pharmacy that collected the sharps, the date the container was transported and the universal warning sign or the word "biohazard".
