The Need For Funeral Home Medical Waste Removal Services
If you own or work at a funeral home, you may have a lot of responsibilities on your plate. Among these obligations is the efficient and punctual disposal of funeral home medical waste. Timely removal of such waste will ensure that everyone who works at or visits your funeral home facilities will be safe from biohazards. However, the process is not as straightforward as it seems.
Partnering with funeral home medical waste disposal companies like MedPro will help you maintain a compliant and clean space that is free of malodorous elements and accumulated biohazardous waste.
The Types of Medical Waste That MedPro Disposal Handles
Funeral homes and their mortuaries generate biohazardous chemicals and substances, including embalming fluid, RCRA waste, and the bodies of various individuals needing careful post-death medical attention. Therefore, there is a need to dispose of such waste safely and the right way to protect your people, visitors, the general public, and the environment.
Identifying the difference between funeral home medical waste types can help you segregate, handle, and store them properly. This will help you prevent the spread of infections and keep your establishment in line with state policies for medical waste removal.
Here are 6 types of medical waste generated at funeral homes.
Biohazardous Waste
This type of waste is often created inside funeral home mortuaries. Compared to how much biohazardous medical waste hospitals and doctors’ offices generate, mortuaries account for a relatively small amount. However, these, too, need to be managed correctly and on time if you are to run a compliant and safe funeral home.
Mortuary biohazardous waste includes bandages and gauze on the bodies that arrive at the funeral home to be prepared for viewing. This type of medical waste includes various chemicals used in the preparation stage, such as tubing, embalming fluid, gauze, catgut sutures, and disposable gloves.
Sharps Waste
Medical equipment that poses a piercing hazard comes under this category. It can include anything from lancets and scissors to scalpels and suturing needles. Cutting instruments are routinely used in mortuaries to prep bodies for internment or cremation.
Sometimes, bodies even arrive at funeral homes with sharps already on them. This type of funeral home medical waste must never be buried with the body, let alone burned in the cremation chamber by mistake. Instead, they should be disposed of properly after being stored inside dedicated sharps containers. Medical waste removal contractors like MedPro Disposal are diligent in removing all types of sharps waste.
Pharmaceutical Waste
Biomedical or pharmaceutical waste is one of the most common types of medical waste generated at funeral homes. Strong chemicals are always involved in the handling and preparation of deceased individuals’ bodies. However, they end up generating waste that needs to be disposed of efficiently to keep your staff and the deceased’s loved ones safe. Removing and storing pharma waste properly, therefore, becomes vital.
Chemical Waste
Chlorinated compounds like trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene and more used when preparing bodies for viewing are very dangerous. To stay compliant, your funeral home must never flush these or similar chemicals down the drain but must instead classify them as hazardous under RCRA rules.
Such chemicals can be safely stored and await professional medical waste removal experts like MedPro Disposal to pick them up for safe disposal.
Radioactive Waste
This waste will prove dangerous to funeral home workers and then spread similar harm to relatives who attend funeral services. How? At some point, and under certain conditions, dead bodies can become radioactive. For example, suppose such activity is observed in specific organs like the thyroid. That organ will need to be safely removed from the mortuary and stored in relevant radioactivity bags or containers for later disposal.
Most funeral homes may lack Geiger counters or other devices to help detect radioactivity. However, to stay compliant, ask your mortician to keep a relevant radioactivity detection tool at hand. This will help your funeral home stay responsible and compliant by reducing radiation levels.
Bulk Chemotherapy Waste
Any deceased individual who had cancer and most probably underwent chemotherapy will arrive at a funeral home carrying some chemotherapy agents or chemicals on or within their body.
Therefore, you are responsible for requesting morticians or other qualified funeral home workers to remove trace elements of chemotherapy and other treatment-related substances from the body. This will ensure that bulk chemotherapy waste does not become a health risk to anyone who works or visits your funeral home. Meanwhile, you can avoid accidental chemo exposure by storing them correctly for disposal.
Train Your Staff In The Proper Disposal of Medical Waste
MedPro Disposal has licensed courses to up-skill your workers and staff on handling and storing different types of medical waste generated in funeral homes.
HIPPA and OSHA Compliance Training for Funeral Homes & Crematories
Our compliance training courses are designed to help your funeral home business stay true to state policies while keeping your staff and visitors safe from exposure to various chemical, radioactive, or biohazardous substances that might accidentally leave your mortuary.
Why You Need MedPro Disposal’s Funeral Home Medical Waste Disposal Services
In addition to having an experienced and detail-driven team, MedPro Disposal also provides cost-effective medical waste removal services in the USA. You can save up to 30% off on your funeral home medical waste disposal needs by choosing us. This applies to funeral home owners with just one establishment and those with multiple funeral homes in North America. In addition, our services can help you keep your funeral homes clean, compliant, and functioning optimally year-round.
Safely Dispose Of Medical Waste From Funeral Homes & Stay Compliant
The friends and loved ones of the deceased rely on you to create a non-toxic and dignified space for them to mourn the passing of their loved ones. With MedPro, you can rest assured knowing you will live up to that promise.
To get in touch with us, fill out the form below or call us at (888) 6416131 for more information.
