Medical Waste Disposal Tips for Funeral Homes

Medical Waste Disposal Tips for Funeral Homes

Medical Waste Disposal Tips for Funeral Homes. Funeral homes are exposed to a wide variety of dangerous medical waste. In addition to their normal leadership duties, funeral directors are required to be aware of and comply with local, state, and federal medical waste disposal guidelines as well as Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines to protect the health and safety of the public, environment, and staff. Here’s a few tips to help make that more effective.

• Periodically review local, state, and federal medical waste guidelines with your staff.
• Review the OSHA guidelines as they pertain to funeral homes and medical waste practices. Read current publications and updates.
• Re-evaluate the products used for preparation. Familiarity is vital to maintaining a safe and healthy environment. Reviewing the Material Safety Data Sheets for all products is a great place to start. Training workers and following Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) guidelines is required.
• Look for ways to limit the toxicity of chemicals used and waste produced. Using limited amounts of chemicals will not only reduce costs, but also reduce risk to people and the environment.
• Watch for new environmentally-friendly products when they are introduced and consider replacing less-friendly products if possible. The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) recommends avoiding the use of products containing phenol and cresol.
• Ensure disposal firms you do business with are licensed and reputable. The disposal process is still the responsibility of the funeral home.
• Review all waste practices, ensuring that all staff are disposing of infectious, hazardous, radioactive, and general medical waste correctly.

Following these tips will make your funeral home a healthier and safer place for you, your staff, your clients, and the environment.

BioWaste is family owned and has an outstanding reputation in the medical waste management industry. If you’d like to discuss leaving the work of disposing of your funeral home medical waste to us so you can better serve your clients, give us a call at 866-950-7643 or complete the form on this page.