Biohazardous Waste
Biohazardous waste is sometimes referred to as infectious waste or regulated medical waste. The following materials are considered biohazardous waste:
- Sharps
- Dressing materials and disposable medical equipment
- Human and nonhuman primate blood, tissue, bodily fluids, and cell lines
- Cultures or stocks of pathogenic or infectious agents
- Recombinant or synthetic nucleic acids
- Contaminated laboratory waste including PPE
- Animal carcasses or body parts that have been exposed to any biohazard
Laboratory or clinical personnel are responsible for identifying, packaging, decontaminating, and storing biohazardous waste properly.
EHS removes biohazardous waste from laboratories and clinical areas or may schedule for our biohazardous waste vendor to pick-up biohazardous waste directly from the area. Laboratory or clinical personnel are responsible for identifying, packaging, decontaminating, or storing biohazardous waste properly.
Sharps are instruments used to cut or puncture body parts. If sharps are disposed of improperly they can injure others and potentially expose them to infectious materials. Used sharps must be collected in commercially available sharps containers. Sharps containers are red, hard-sided, leak proof, and labeled with the universal biohazard symbol on the outside of the container.