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Managing Your Medical Waste as a Generator in Michigan. Did you know that the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has strict requirements for companies that produce medical waste? This includes facilities like doctor’s offices, dentists, tattoo shops, acupuncturist, veterinaries, funeral homes, and more. If you are generating medical waste, you are responsible for the proper handling and disposal of the waste, and precisely following the regulations set forth by Michigan DEQ if you’re operating your facility in Michigan.
As a waste generator in Michigan, large or small, it’s important to keep in mind at all times that you are responsible for your medical waste until it’s final disposal. Not properly managing your medical waste puts people at risk and can come with major fines. Below are essential steps to keeping your facility compliant and protecting your reputation as a local business. Please note, the suggestions in this article do not replace local, state, or federal laws regarding medical waste management.
Regulated medical waste includes biohazardous or infectious materials, such as:
Check out our classification guide that helps outline the different waste types. Understanding the types of medical waste you produce at your facility, will help determine the proper handling and disposal methods to keep you, your staff, and your clients or patients safe, while keeping you compliant.
The Michigan DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) requires facilities producing any amount or volume of medical waste to complete a certification of registration. Registration fees may apply and the certificate will generally expire after a certain amount of time. Make sure you are fully aware of registration process, costs, and expiration dates. Renewal registration is also required.
Having a Medical Waste Management Plan is required by the Michigan DEQ for all medical waste producing facilities. In this plan, you must list and describe the types of medical waste generated at your facility. In addition to the types of waste, you must also describe your method of packaging, storage, treatment, and disposal for each waste type. Generally, you can get this information from your medical waste management partner.
Your Medical Waste Management Plan must be on file on your premises. During a Michigan DEQ inspection, your Medical Waste Management Plan must be made available to them if needed.
Employee safety training is important and also required. Not only is a record of employee training required by Michigan DEQ, but also OSHA requires certain annual training depending on the employee’s responsibilities and job duties. Michigan DEQ requires that all employee training records should be made available upon an inspection for a minimum of 3 years.
Maintaining adequate training which includes proper personal protective equipment (PPE) and universal precautions helps prevent workplace injuries and the risk of exposure to potentially dangerous and infectious material.
How your medical waste is packaged and the length of time it’s stored also fall within the strict guidelines of the Michigan DEQ. Proper packaging and containers for medical waste collection must be in use at all times. This includes how your waste is segregated too.
Did you know that your medical waste can only be stored onsite for no more than 90 days? If you are dealing with a medical waste management company that’s not reliable and missing your pick up dates, that could cause you to become noncompliant with local regulations. According to DEQ guidelines, the storage period begins on the date in which the container use is initiated.
As a part of the Michigan DEQ requirements and other compliance regulations, documentation of your medical waste removal and proper treatment must be available and maintained. This includes verification indicating your medical waste is disposed of every 90 days. This shipment documentation must be available upon an inspection for a minimum of 3 years.
At Bio-MED Medical Waste Transporters, we have over 25 years experience managing medical waste for customers and clients throughout Michigan, Ohio, and northern Kentucky. Our staff are well versed and trained in Michigan DEQ requirements, as well as local, state, and federal regulations for managing regulated waste. From doctors and dentists, to veterinaries, mortuaries, and tattoo shops, we have the extensive knowledge it takes to help keep our customers compliant and avoid fines for being noncompliant. We offer same day pick up and will never be the cause of a delayed pick up putting you past the 90 day maximum storage requirement. We also offer an online OSHA compliance safety training program that helps easily manage your staff’s training needs, which adhere to DEQ regulations. Contact us today to partner with a local, reliable medical waste management partner.
NOTE: The information outlined in this article are NOT intended to replace local, state, or federal agency guidelines. Always follow standard guidelines set forth by the CDC, OSHA, and other trusted agencies.
