Clinical and related waste in healthcare

Health service staff can become confused whether an item is clinical or non-clinical waste. This has led to inconsistent practice, high levels of contamination and increased cost for health services.

ANMF (Vic Branch) participated in a Victorian Department of Health (DH) working group to develop clear and consistent guidance to Victorian public health services regarding the application of EPA Clinical and Related Waste Guidelines (IWRG612.1). These resources were released on the DH website in 2020.

Tools

• Clinical waste guidelines - supplement for healthcare staff (PDF, 1 MB) - word version (DOCX, 94 KB)
• Waste decision tree A3 poster (PDF, 331 KB)
• Clinical and related waste - training presentation (PPTX, 6 MB) - training notes for the presentation (DOCX, 2 MB)

Acts

• Environmental Protection Act (1970)
• Environmental Protection Act (2017)
• Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004
• Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008

Guidance

• EPA IWRG612.1 – Clinical and related waste – operational guidance
• Victorian Department of Health – Clinical and related waste – Supplement for healthcare staff
• Waste Management Association of Australia - Industry code of practice for the management of biohazardous waste
• Victorian Department of Health - The Blue Book – Guidelines for the control of infection diseases
• World Health Organisation - Safe management of wastes from healthcare activities - guidance
• EPA Publication 1695.1: Assessing and controlling risk: A guide for business

Regulations

• Environment Protection (Industrial Waste Resource) Regulations 2009
• Waste Management Policy (e-waste)
• Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017

Australian standards

• AS 4123.7 - 2006 (R2017) - Mobile waste containers Colours, markings, and designation requirements
• AS 3816:2018 - Management of clinical and related waste

 

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Source: https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/about/publications/policiesandguidelines/clinical-related-waste-guidance