Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) provides "cradle-to-grave" control
of solid and hazardous waste by establishing management requirements on generators
and transporters of hazardous waste and on owners and operators of hazardous
waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities. Federal RCRA regulations
are set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 40 CFR Parts 240-282.
Hazardous waste inspectors will more than likely take a
full week to conduct a site visit. The reason being that pretty much every
activity of a medical facility generates some hazardous waste and the hazardous
waste inspector will want to inspect all these operations, including all your
laboratories, your maintenance areas, your pharmacy, your dental clinic, your
underground storage tanks, and your morgue. The inspector is NOT going to just
visit your hazardous waste storage site. Given the large number of areas that
a hazardous waste inspector will want to see, EPA usually sends more than one
hazardous waste inspector to reduce the time needed for the visit.
So what are the hazardous waste inspectors looking for when
they conduct their site visit? First, they will want to verify that the hospital
has identified all their hazardous waste. Some hazardous waste is listed in
the RCRA regulations. Others the hospital will have to determine for itself
whether it is ignitable, corrosive, reactive, or toxic.
One common mistake in this area is relying on advice from
equipment manufacturers or the common waste disposal practices of the medical
community in determining whether or not a waste is hazardous. Inspectors don’t
know how many times they have heard facilities tell them that "Everyone is
throwing that waste solution down the drain so it must be fine," or "The
manufacturer says we can throw that unknown substance down the drain -- I’m
sure it is not hazardous."
For information on how to properly identify your hazardous
waste, please see HERC’s Hazardous
Waste Determination page. You
should also check the HERC Hazardous Waste State Resource
Locator page for your state for links to any state-specific variations
on the federal rules that may apply to you.
In addition to the identification of hazardous waste, the
inspectors will also be calculating how much hazardous waste your hospital
generates in a month in order to determine your hospital’s generator
status. There are three types of hazardous waste generators: conditionally
exempt small quantity generators, small quantity generators, and large quantity
generators. Once the inspector knows the type of generator the hospital is,
the inspector will then determine whether or not the hospital is properly managing
and disposing of their hazardous waste in accordance with the requirements
for their generator type. They will be looking to see if your hazardous waste
containers are properly labeled, are sealed except when adding or removing
waste, are in good condition and are inspected weekly. They will also be checking
to see if you are preparing your hazardous waste manifests correctly and are
using authorized hazardous waste transporters and disposal facilities.
For more information on how to determine what type of hazardous
waste generator you are and what hazardous waste requirements apply to your
facility, please visit HERC’s hazardous
waste management pages. Since the more hazardous waste you generate the
more requirements you need to comply with, HERC highly recommends that you
contact Practice Greenhealth, who can assist you in developing a hazardous waste minimization
program at your facility.
Hazardous waste inspectors will also be observing how the
hospital is storing hazardous materials and whether or not these storage practices
are posing a threat to human health or the environment. For instance, is the
hospital storing incompatible materials together or are reactive materials
stored improperly? Are the containers made with materials that are compatible
with the material or waste stored in them?
Adequate analysis should be performed to avoid creating
uncontrolled hazards such as heat generation, violent reaction, fire, explosion,
and generation of flammable or toxic gases.
Furthermore, hazardous waste inspectors are going to determine
whether or not your employees are thoroughly familiar with proper waste handling
and emergency procedures. If there is a mercury spill, do employees know how
to respond? Do the employees know what wastes should go into a red bag and
what should not?
In addition, they will check to see whether or not your hospital
has adequate emergency procedures in place to minimize risk from fires, spills,
and other releases. Do you, for instance, have the necessary spill control
material and decontamination supplies? Do you have an effective internal communication
or alarm system in place?
Inspectors will, of course, check to see that you have all
required records. Again, what records are required depends on your generator
status.
Finally, they will verify that your underground storage tanks {link to Seth’s
site} have the necessary corrosive, spill and overfill protection or were closed
properly.
Sixty-one percent of all violations disclosed to EPA from
voluntary audits conducted by healthcare facilities under EPA’s audit
policy relate to hazardous waste. This is the reason why inspectors are mostly
concerned with RCRA issues. Common hazardous waste (HW) violations being found
at healthcare facilities either through inspections or self audits are:
- No/infrequent weekly inspections of HW storage/satellite
accumulation areas
- No/improper labeling of HW containers
- Open containers of HW
- No/Incorrect HW manifests
- Improper disposal of HW (e.g., throw fluorescent light
bulbs and paints in trash, lab chemicals down drain)
- Lack of HW management training of employees
- Treating HW without a permit
- Lack of RCRA contingency plan
- Spill control equipment not readily accessible
- Failure to make HW determinations
- Failure to ensure that HW meets Land Disposal Restrictions
- Failure to upgrade/close underground storage tanks (UST)
by 12/22/98
- Malfunctioning leak detection systems on UST
Given the high number of hazardous waste compliance problems
noted at medical facilities, HERC strongly recommends that healthcare facilities
conduct compliance audits of their hazardous waste management activities. To
help conduct these audits, EPA has developed the following 4 hazardous waste
environmental compliance audit protocols:
Protocol for Conducting Environmental Compliance, Audits of Facilities Regulated under Subtitle D of RCRA (3/1/00) (PDF) (751 KB)
Protocol for Conducting Environmental Compliance, Audits of Hazardous Waste Generators under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (10/1/98) (PDF) (729 KB)
EPA also developed a handbook for
small businesses on understanding the hazardous waste rules which is one of
the best plain English guides on the requirements for small quantity and conditionally-exempt
small quantity generators. In addition, they have a fact
sheet on the hazardous waste requirements for large quantity generators.
Finally, EPA’s Office of Underground Storage Tanks has a website where
you can obtain guides on how to comply with the UST regulations.
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