If you’re not convinced about hiring a professional medical waste company for your medical, dental or veterinary practice, you should consider the significant risks that are associated with improper waste disposal. Here are some points to consider as you navigate the risks of improper medical waste disposal:
Legal Liabilities
Though it varies by state, there are laws and regulations that concur on the following: If a facility or company produces medical waste materials, that organization is solely responsible for their waste. This means if someone is harmed by your improperly disposed medical waste, your practice, school or company is responsible, which could then lead to costly legal charges.
Financial Threats
Monetary results from improper health care waste disposal can be enormous. If you are the cause of injury to the community, you’ll most likely need to cover the injury, additional damages and federal penalties. Without proper waste disposal, legal authorities could charge your business with medical malpractice should anyone be hurt as a result of your medical waste.
Potential Danger to Patients and Staff
When you do not properly dispose of medical garbage, you are risking the live of yourself, your staff and your patients. From radioactive supplies to infectious sharps and powerful prescription drugs, inadequate medical waste disposal presents immediate physical danger to everyone involved. A professional medical waste team will make sure these dangerous items are safely removed so no one is at risk.
Danger to Community
Failure to properly eliminate your medical waste will cause harm outside of the office as well. Community and environmental dangers include:
- Syringes washing up on seashores
- Infectious blood being tossed inside a landfill, poisoning soil
- Pathogens contaminating healthy drinking water and fresh air
Danger to Your Practice’s Reputation
Would you feel safe visiting a doctor or taking your pet to a veterinarian whose practice was found guilty of improper medical waste disposal? Of course you wouldn’t. Even if the improper disposal didn’t result in someone’s death, you would certainly avoid that physician or veterinarian at all costs. Medical waste is serious business and should be handled carefully. It is imperative to public health and safety for you to hire medical waste management professionals, like our team at Universal Waste Management in Green Cove, Florida.