Preliminary risk analysis applied to the handling of health-care waste

Abstract

-Between 75% and 90% of the waste produced by health-care providers no risk or is "general" health-care waste, comparable to domestic waste. The remaining 10-25% of health-care waste is regarded as hazardous due to one or more of the following characteristics: it may contain infectious agents, sharps, toxic or hazardous chemicals or it may be radioactive. Infectious health-care waste, particularly sharps, has been responsible for most of the accidents reported in the literature. In this work the preliminary risks analysis (PRA) technique was used to evaluate practices in the handling of infectious health-care waste. Currently the PRA technique is being used to identify and to evaluate the potential for hazard of the activities, products, and services from facilities and industries. The system studied was a health-care establishment which has handling practices for infectious waste. Thirty-six procedures related to segregation, containment, internal collection, and storage operation were analyzed. The severity of the consequences of the failure (risk) that can occur from careless management of infectious health-care waste was classified into four categories: negligible, marginal, critical, and catastrophic. The results obtained in this study showed that events with critics consequences, about 80%, may occur during the implementation of the containment operation, suggesting the need to prioritize this operation. As a result of the methodology applied in this work, a flowchart the risk series was also obtained. In the flowchart the events that can occur as a consequence of a improper handling of infectious health-care waste, which can cause critical risks such as injuries from sharps and contamination (infection) from pathogenic microorganisms, are shown.

Risk Assessment of the Current Handling of Medical Waste in Hospitals of Sana'a City, Yemen

“…All these events were determined on the level of high-risk, represented potential health hazards to the medical staff, patients, workers, and visitors. This result was agreed with a previous study conducted in Brazil (Carvalho & Silva, 2002). A sufficient number of color-coded containers should be located in all the necessary locations to decrease and eliminate the risks of the containment processes.…”

Análises de risco na operação de usinas de reciclagem de resíduos eletroeletrônicos (REEE)

“…The results obtained also indicate the importance of combined risks (Carvalho & Silva, 2002). WEEE may include sharps, and it is possible that the contact with heavy metals, which are usually also found in this kind of waste, may increase occupational health hazards due to the risk of contamination.…”

“…In chemical risks, which are caused by exposure to gases released when monitors are broken, for example, the use of specific equipment for each activity (to control the environmental aspect atmospheric emissions) may significantly reduce this class or risk. Concerning the direct contact of hands with WEEE, which was discussed by Carvalho & Silva (2002), a possible short-term solution would be the use of PPE, such as waterproof gloves resistant to sharps.…”

“…An integrated management control system that considers environmental risks and OHS hazards that are classified as critical is routinely adopted in the emergency cases. This control system should also include the selection of potential scenarios, sequence Cobbing (2008), Carvalho & Silva (2002), Robinson (2009), Zheng et al (2013), Li et al (2011), and Chi et al (2011).…”

“…Similarly to the environmental issues around the generation of WEEE, there is little concern about the management, treatment, and fate of this waste in developing nations (Cobbing, 2008). For Carvalho & Silva (2002), direct contact with it poses chemical risks, since the human body may absorb the toxic substances present in these materials. Such risk may increase if the worker sustains skin wounds, which are some of the main contamination routes.…”