Medical Waste Disposal Southaven, MS

Medical Waste Disposal Southaven, MS

Southaven is the third largest city in Mississippi and is located less than fifteen miles from downtown Memphis. The city boasts small town, southern charm with big city amenities. Southaven has been undergoing a period of rapid growth and the “Top of Mississippi” city is aiming to be become just that. The city caters for people of all age groups and of all interests. The growth of Memphis airport in the 1980s saw increased traffic to Southaven and the city has since doubled its land area and tripled its population.

Southaven is home to Baptist Hospital-DeSoto, a major two-story healthcare facility. In 2001 an expansion project almost doubled the size of the hospital and the following year an Outpatient Diagnostic Center and a Women’s Center were also added. In 2006 the hospital opened an eleven-story tower that became the first high-rise building in DeSoto County. It features an additional 140 beds and offers an expanded Emergency Department, operating theatres as well as private room facilities. The hospital treats thousands of patients every year and has evolved to meet the city’s ever growing demand. The demand for safe medical waste disposal has grown too and medical waste disposal companies are on hand to assist in fulfilling safe and proper disposal obligations.

How We Manage Medical Waste At The “Top of Mississippi”

Southaven is covered entirely by the federal OSHA program, as are all cities in the state of Mississippi. The Mississippi State Department of Health defines “infectious medical waste” differently from just “medical waste”. “Infectious medical waste” is defined as “solid or liquid wastes, which may contain pathogens with sufficient virulence and quantity such that exposure to the waste by a susceptible host has been proven to result in an infectious disease”. In everyday terms this means medical products that become potentially infectious in the diagnosis and treatment of humans and animals. This includes wastes such as discarded sharps, like hypodermic needles, and blood products, like heavily blood soaked bandages. “Medical Waste” is essentially everything else and is defined as “all waste generated in direct patient care or in diagnostic or research areas that is non-infectious but aesthetically repugnant if found in the environment”.

Biohazard waste disposal is not a glamorous business, but it is an important one. The same OSHA regulations apply whether you are Baptist Hospital-DeSoto or one of the city’s many smaller family medical clinics. The OSHA Occupational Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens Standards impacts all aspects of storing infectious medical waste. All generators of medical are required to hold a medical waste management plan. The plan must cover how waste will be stored and contained and then how it will be treated and/or disposed.

Waste must be contained in such a way that minimizes potential harm to the public and affords protection against outside interference from animals or the weather. Sharps must be kept in rigid, leak-proof, puncture-resistant containers that are manufactured for the purpose of sharps containment. All of your infectious waste must be segregated, contained and labeled at the point of contamination. Warning labels must include the universal biohazard symbol, followed by the term “biohazard”. Alternate red bags or red containers may be substituted for biohazard waste labels.

Protecting Southaven and its Citizens

Healthcare facilities have a number of options available to them of how best to treat and dispose of their waste. The most common way to treat infectious waste is by incineration that provides total combustion. Sterilization through heating with steam also renders medical waste non-infectious and may be used in some circumstances. Chemical sterilization is used to treat some medical wastes, but is less common. Treating your own medical waste is a complicated and expensive business. Using steam sterilizers means lengthy standard operating procedures and keeping strict records of your activity. Treatment infrastructure also requires significant financial investment as well as ongoing running costs. For these reasons many healthcare providers employ medical waste disposal companies to fulfill these requirements, thereby removing the hassle and responsibility of treating their own medical waste. This usually proves cost effective too.

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has not at this time defined clear regulations for transporting and treating your infectious medical waste. Transporters of medical waste do not currently need to obtain a permit, but upon collection of infectious waste from any healthcare facility, the transportation company inherits full responsibility for the waste and ownership once the transfer is complete. Waste must then be managed in such a way that it does not pose a risk to public health and the environment. Infectious waste can only be delivered to a treatment facility that is licensed and permitted to accept such wastes. Using a medical waste disposal company is the simplest way to take care of your disposal needs, however it remains your legal responsibility to ensure that the waste disposal companies you employ are legitimate and apply correct handling and disposal practices. You should therefore choose carefully and use a quality company with the necessary experience and knowledge to meet state and local regulations.

MedPro Disposal Is Ready To Deliver

MedPro Disposal provides affordable and customized medical waste pick-up and disposal services in Southaven, MS. Our teams of disposal experts can help you in developing a customized disposal program and flexible collection schedule. Our aim is to offer the best low cost alternative to other providers and we will never try to convince you of services that you do not need. Our reputation has been built on expert knowledge and experience and our ability to adapt to customer needs.

Delivering excellent customer service is our priority. We offer approved OSHA training services to your employees and also a mail-back service that can be a cost-effective solution for posting smaller levels of waste in the regular mail.

Safely disposing of medical waste can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. Whatever your requirements, MedPro Disposal is here to partner with you and to remove the hassle of medical waste disposal, now and into the future. Call us today.