Legal Duty of Bio-Medical Waste Occupiers
Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 applies to all persons who generate, collect, receive, store, transport, treat, dispose, or handle bio-medical waste in any form including hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, dispensaries, veterinary institutions, animal houses, pathological laboratories, blood banks, Ayush hospitals, clinical establishments, research or educational institutions, health camps, medical or surgical camps, vaccination camps, blood donation camps, first aid rooms of schools, forensic laboratories and research labs.
An occupier is defined as a person having administrative control over the institution and the premises generating biomedical waste, which includes a hospital, nursing home, clinic, dispensary, veterinary institution, animal house, pathological laboratory, blood bank, health care facility and clinical establishment, irrespective of their system of medicine and by whatever name they are called.
Duties of the Occupier has been listed in the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 from s.4 (a) to (t), which are as follows:
(a) To take all necessary steps to ensure that bio-medical waste is handled without any adverse effect on human health and the environment and in accordance with these rules
(b) Make a provision within the premises for a safe, ventilated and secured location for storage of segregated biomedical waste in colored bags or containers in the manner as specified in Schedule I, to ensure that there shall be no secondary handling, pilferage of recyclables or inadvertent scattering or spillage by animals and the bio-medical waste from such place or premises shall be directly transported in the manner as prescribed in these rules to the common bio-medical waste treatment facility or for the appropriate treatment and disposal, as the case may be, in the manner as prescribed in Schedule I of the Rule
© Pre-treat the laboratory waste, microbiological waste, blood samples, and blood bags through disinfection or sterilization on-site in the manner as prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) or National AIDs Control Organisation (NACO) guidelines and then sent to the common bio-medical waste treatment facility for final disposal;
(d) Phase out the use of chlorinated plastic bags, gloves and blood bags by 27thMarch 2019
(e) Dispose of solid waste other than bio-medical waste in accordance with the provisions of respective waste management rules made under the relevant laws and amended from time to time
(f) Not to give treated bio-medical waste with municipal solid waste
(g) Provide training to all its health care workers and others, involved in handling of biomedical waste at the time of induction and thereafter at least once every year and the details of training programmes conducted, number of personnel trained and number of personnel not undergone any training shall be provided in the Annual Report required to be submitted latest by 30thJune, every year for the previous Calendar year.
(h) Immunise all its health care workers and others, involved in the handling of bio-medical waste for protection against diseases including Hepatitis B and Tetanus that are likely to be transmitted by the handling of bio-medical waste, in the manner as prescribed in the National Immunisation Policy or the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued from time to time
(i) Establish a Bar- Code System for bags or containers containing bio-medical waste to be sent out of the premises or place for any purpose by 27th March 2019
(j) Ensure segregation of liquid chemical waste at source and ensure pre-treatment or neutralization prior to mixing with other effluent generated from health care facilities
(k) Ensure treatment and disposal of liquid waste in accordance with the Water (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Act, 1974 (6 of 1974). Standards are prescribed in GSR 7 dated 22nd December 1998 and also in BMW Rules 2016, which was amended in 2018.
(l) Ensure occupational safety of all its health care workers and others involved in the handling of bio-medical waste by providing appropriate and adequate personal protective equipment
(m) Conduct health check-up at the time of induction and at least once in a year for all its health care workers and others involved in the handling of biomedical waste and maintain the records for the same
(n) Maintain and update on day to day basis the bio-medical waste management register and display the monthly record on its website according to the bio-medical waste generated in terms of category and colour coding as specified in the Schedule I of BMW Rules 2016
(o) Report major accidents including accidents caused by fire hazards, blasts during handling of bio-medical waste and the remedial action are taken and the records relevant thereto, (including nil report) in Form I to the prescribed authority and also along with the annual report Form-IV.
(p) Make available the annual report on its website and all the health care facilities shall make own website by 15th March 2020
(q) Inform the prescribed authority immediately in case the operator of a facility does not collect the bio-medical waste within the intended time or as per the agreed time
(r) Establish a system to review and monitor the activities related to bio-medical waste management, either through an existing committee or by forming a new committee and the Committee shall meet once in every six months and the record of the minutes of the meetings of this committee shall be submitted along with the annual report to the prescribed authority and the healthcare establishments having less than thirty beds shall designate a qualified person to review and monitor the activities relating to bio-medical waste management within that establishment and submit the annual report in prescribed Form-IV
(s) Maintain all record for the operation of incineration, hydro or autoclaving etc., for a period of five years
(t) Existing incinerators to achieve the standards for treatment and disposal of bio-medical waste as specified in Schedule II of the rules for retention time in secondary chamber and Dioxin and Furans within two years from the date of notification of BMW Rules 2016, which was 28th March 2016.
However, the most important duty is to comply, review compliance of the Authorization granted by the authority concerned. This article has been composed by collating the BMW Rules 2016 with the amendment rules of 2018. The next Annual Report for the calendar year 2018 is due for submission to authorities concerned, latest by 30th June 2019.
Email: info@enviroannotations.com
Originally published at enviroannotations.blogspot.com.
