Medical Waste Disposal Buffalo, NY

Medical Waste Disposal Buffalo, NY

About Buffalo:

When the Erie Canal was built in 1825, it included a port-of-call at Buffalo for settlers heading west. The canal brought a surge in population with it, and led to Buffalo incorporating as a city in 1832. In the early 20^th century, hydroelectric power generated from Niagara River powered local mills and the city was nicknamed “City of Light” due to the widespread electric lighting. In 1843, the world’s first steam-powered grain elevator was built in Buffalo, and allowed for faster unloading of lake freighters as well as faster transport to barges, canal boats and rail cars.

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the city’s most prominent art institutions, can be found performing at Kleinhans Music Hall. The city has jumpstarted the career of many jazz and classical musicians, as well as mainstream bands including The Quakes and The Goo Goo Dolls.

Buffalo, New York Maintains Health Security by Proper Sanitation and Waste Management

Buffalo, New York is widely known not only for being the second largest city in the state of New York, but also for the fact that it borders upon the famous Niagara Falls. Apart from this, the city boasts historically and culturally significant facts about itself, such as:

• having the most affordable housing in all of the United States,
• being the first city in the 19th century with streets that were lit with electricity,
• Is home to the Herschell Carousel Factory Museum which is the world’s sole carousel factory

In the past, the city had heavily benefitted from rapid industrialization, with the advantage of having the Niagara River generating hydroelectric power. It was because of this that the city was able to launch an automobile revolution where the first few car-prototypes were manufactured.

As of today, the industrial footprint of its head start is still prevalent in the economy of Buffalo, New York. Primarily consisting of industrial, manufacturing, and technology – Buffalo New York brandishes a highly diversified economic sector that may not necessarily rise in one particular industry but can guarantee itself to be more insulated from industry-related externalities.

Health Care Industry

To aid productivity, especially for a labor-intensive economy such as Buffalo, New York, the city is cradled by two private healthcare systems; which houses eight hospitals and a myriad of clinics in its metropolitan area. Three of these hospitals are public, such as Oishei’s Children’s Hospital and Buffalo General Medical Center. The various clinics spread throughout the city are aided by physician practice management companies within Western New York to be able to operate seamlessly, allowing the general public to have access to healthcare albeit the small number of hospitals within the city.

Hospitals and private clinics and practitioners offer a high quality of healthcare. In fact, both Buffalo General Medical Center and Gates Vascular Institute have earned a high rank for their state-of-the-art research and treatment regarding neurological care. Apart from this specialization, hospitals across the board could also be observed to follow medical protocols that ensures patient safety:

• Health practitioners wearing personal protective equipment (PPEs) such as gloves, masks, and safety glasses.
• The use of EPA-approved disinfectants
• Mindfulness of the OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) blood spill procedure of cleaning up sharps/needle sticks by employees.
• The hiring of qualified biomedical waste disposal companies within Buffalo, New York that are compliant with OSHA and HIPAA guidelines.

Biomedical Waste Management

There is a fundamental significance around waste management, collection, and recycling. In general these are intrinsic to the health of both the environment in every city and the health of its population. Especially in the current century, where there is a global recognition to protect the environment, as well as its link towards lessening health risks; there is more significance and emphasis around proper waste management.

In the past, countries merely incinerated wastes and people thought it to be sufficient and passable as waste management; because these methods are highly pollutive. Alongside global consciousness, industries that are built around waste management have also evolved alongside tighter restrictions around international standards. Now, waste management companies offer a variety of services in terms of both collecting and disposing of waste.

This is especially true for the case of biomedical waste management.

Collection and Types of Biomedical Waste in Buffalo NY:

An effective waste management system is possibly the most understated yet critical aspect of healthcare. Every day, thousands of wastes are generated by healthcare facilities such as: research centers/laboratories, hospitals, clinics, and even tattoo shops. All of them pose risks and require strict protocols for proper disposal.  Hazardous and toxic medical wastes could also pose a number of risks: Hepatitis A & B, HIV, chemical burns, and toxic exposure to pharmaceutical products.

These medical wastes include:

• Sharps (needles, syringes, lancets, infusion sets, epi pens, insulin pens, scalpels, scissors, etc.)
• Liquid Waste (blood, bodily fluid, etc.)
• Solid Waste (Non-sharp items contaminated with any bodily fluids or biological material. For example: gloves, pipettes, towels, and etc.)

Sharps & Biohazard Disposal

While needles save countless lives in hospitals, the risks that improper biohazard waste and sharps disposal poses can go from injuring an individual, to putting them at risk of exposure towards hazardous chemicals and potentially infectious bodily fluids.

Hence, their disposal is of utmost significance. The recommended and enforced way of disposing sharps is through disposing them in their prescribed special sharps disposal container and then hiring reliable companies with proper certifications to collect and dispose of these biomedical wastes.

Best Practices:

A reliable biomedical waste management company would consider a couple of protocols to ensure safety throughout the process of disposal. Generally speaking: the first step is appropriate segregation of healthcare wastes. Non-hazardous wastes must be separated from biohazard waste, and mixtures of both wastes are hazardous. This makes it easier for waste disposal companies to handle healthcare waste.

The safe handling of sharps and toxic wastes is a must.

• They must not be passed from hand to hand.
• Used needles must not be broken or bent before disposal.
• Used sharps must immediately be discarded in a sharps container. These containers must be strong enough to not be pierced through by the medical sharp that’s involved. Usually, the material used is either metal or high-density plastic.
• Infectious wastes must be, at all times, disposed of in leak-proof containers that are compatible with the material involved.

Furthermore, sharps containers:

• Must be located to avoid spillage.
• Must be kept at a height that allows safe sharps disposal.
• Must be kept away from public access.
• Must not be overfilled.
• Must be disposed of once full.
• Should be closed between uses.
• Must not be used for purposes other than sharps disposal.
• Should be disposed of after 3 months even when not full.