Medical Waste, St. Petersburg Florida: UMI Offers Sharps Container Maintenance & Sharps Disposal

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Oct. 27, 2015 - PRLog -- Heathcare providers and other medical waste generators in St. Petersburg FL and Pinellas County Florida are required by state law to manage and dispose of their biohazardous waste in a manner consistent with the provisions of Florida Administrative Code Chapter 64E-16.  Therein biomedical waste generators include "hospitals, skilled nursing or convalescent hospitals, intermediate care facilities, clinics, dialysis clinics, dental offices, health maintenance organizations, surgical clinics, medical buildings, physicians' offices, laboratories, veterinary clinics and funeral homes"; biomedical waste consists of "any solid or liquid waste which may present a threat of infection to humans, including nonliquid tissue, body parts, blood, blood products, and body fluids from humans and other primates; laboratory and veterinary wastes which contain human disease-causing agents and discarded sharps"; and sharps are defined as objects "capable of puncturing, lacerating, or otherwise penetrating the skin".

In 2002 the Coalition for Safe Community Needle Disposal was established to promote the safe disposal of discarded sharps.  And in 2014 NeedyMeds, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization providing information resources for healthcare financial assistance programs, assumed ownership and management of the Coalition website SafeNeedleDisposal.org, recently updated with an expanded definition of medical sharps paraphrased as follows:

- Needles, hypodermic needles used to inject drugs and medication under the skin;
- Syringes, devices used to inject medication into or withdraw fluid from the body;
- Lancets, fingerstick devices or instruments with a short, two-edged blade used to get drops of blood for testing;
- Auto Injectors, such as epinephrine and insulin pens – syringes pre-filled with fluid medication designed to be self-injected into the body;
- Infusion sets, tubing systems with a needle used to deliver drugs to the body; and
- Connection needles, needle sets that connect to a tube used to transfer fluids in and out of the body, as with hemodialysis.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "[o]ccupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens [BBP]from needlesticks and other sharps injuries is a serious problem, resulting in approximately 385,000 needlesticks and other sharps-related injuries to hospital-based healthcare personnel each year".  Adding the incidents that occur in outpatient medical clinics and other non-hospital healthcare venues might easily increase that figure by an order of magnitude or more.  That puts both patients and staff of healthcare facilities in St. Petersburg FL and Pinellas County Florida at material risk for sharps-related injuries.

Proper collection and disposal of discarded medical sharps significantly reduces the risks of sharps-related injury and any associated penalties or litigation.  FAC 64E-16 mandates sharps be collected in a "rigid, leak and puncture resistant container, designed primarily for the containment of sharps, clearly labeled with the phrase and international biological hazard symbol ... and manufactured with dyes meeting the requirements for incidental metals".  And in St. Petersburg FL and Pinellas County Florida, United Medical Industries Corp. (a.k.a. "UMI Waste" or simply "UMI") is the licensed and insured medical waste management solutions provider to rely on to collect your discarded sharps and maintain your sharps container inventory.

For a fast quote and free initial pickup call toll-free 866-864-1316 or logon to https://umibiomedical.com.