ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
December 18,
1980
In The Matter Of?
)
Hazardous Hospital Wastes,
)
R80—19
Sections
3(jj)
and 21(h) of the
)
Environmental Protection Act
)
PROPOSED RULE.
FIRST NOTICE~
ORDER OF THE
BOARD
(by J.
Anderson):
The Board proposes to adopt a new Part IX to Chapter 9:
Special Waste to read as follows:
Part IX
Hazardous Hospital Waste
Rule 901 Definitions
For the purposes of this Part IX of Chapter
9 only:
“HAZARDOUS HOSPITAL WASTE” means waste which has been
generated in connection with patient care that is contaminated
with or may be contaminated with an infectious
agent that has the
potential
of inducing an infection and which has not been rendered
innocuous by sterilization or incineration.
“HAZARDOUS HOSPITAL
WASTE” includes, but
is not limited to,
medical and patient care
products contaminated with blood,
sputum or other human excreta
from a patient in strict or enteric isolation; medical supplies
or patient care items that are contaminated by or have been in
contact with a wound or the skin of
a patient in wound and skin
or strict isolation; medical supplies or patient contact items
that are contaminated with or have been in contact with mucous or
other respiratory fluids from a patient in respiratory or strict
isolation; medical supplies and patient care products that are
contaminated during surgery when the case is septic;
all
tissues
and pathological waste and items that are contaminated by patho-
logical waste;
bacteriological cultures generated anywhere
within
the facility; blood or other excreta that are waste products
from
bacteriological testing; animals used in research with pathological
organisms.
“HOSPITAL” means any institution, place, building, or agency,
public or private, whether organized for profit or not, devoted
primarily to the maintenance and operation of facilities for the
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diagnosis and treatment or care of two or more unrelated persons
admitted for overnight stay or longer in order to obtain medical,
including obstetric,
psychiatric and nursing, care of illness,
disease,
injury,
infirmity,
or deformity.
“HOSPITAL”
includes
general and specialized hospitals,
tuberculosis sanitaria, mental
or psychiatric hospitals and sanitaria, maternity homes,
lying-in
homes, and homes
for unwed mothers in which care is given during
delivery.
“HOSPITAL” does not include,
for example, nursing
hones,
offices of human or animal health care providers, out—patient
clinics, or veterinary hospitals.
“INFECTIOUS AGENT” means pathogenic microorganisms capable
of causing infection to human beings,
and includes,
hut is not
limited to, pathogens of disease listed by the Illinois DepartrnenL
of Public Health as “Reportable Diseases and Conditions”
in its
Rules and Regulations for the Control
of Communicable Diseases,
Chapter
I.
“INNOCUOUS HOSPITAL WASTE” means any hazardous hospital
waste
which has been properly sterilized, or incinerated so as
to
render
it incapable of causing infection.
“NORMAL HOSPITAL WASTE” means any waste containing only
microorganisms which are normal, indigenous microorganisms of
the human body and which are not usually found to be pathogenic.
“NORMAL
HOSPITAL WASTE” includes,hut
is not limited,
to garbage,
refuse,
such as packaging materials removed before a product
reaches patient care areas; disposable medical and patient care
items
such as basins and water pitchers which have not come in
contact with a patient in isolation;
and facial tissue and other
patient contact items which have not been generated by a patient
in isolation.
“STERILIZATION” means the complete destruction of microorgan-
isms by moist or
dry
heat or by bactericidal chemical compounds.
Rule 902
Disposal methods ~
a)
No person shall cause or allow hazardous hospital waste
to be deposited in any landfill.
b)
Hazardous hospital waste shall be disposed of by incin-
eration in an incinerator capable of rendering such wast~
innocuous or, where
lawful, by deposit into a municipal
or private sewerage system.
c)
Innocuous hospital waste and normal hospital waste may
be disposed of by incineration in an incinerator approp-
riate
for such waste, and for which the Agency has issued
a
permit,
by deposit in any sanitary landfill
or, where
lawful, by deposit into a municipal or private sewerage
system.
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903
Rendering
hazardous
hospital waste innocuo~~sb~
sterilization
a)
Any hazardous hospital waste may be rendered an innocuous
hospital waste by:
1.
sterilization of the waste in an autoclave provided that
the autoclave’s effectiveness is verified at least weekly
with a biological
spore assay containing B.
stearotherrno—
philus, or
2.
sterilization of the waste in a commercial ethylene oxide
unit that provides controlled temperature and humidity
conditions,
provided that the unit is operated
in accor-
dance with the manufacturer’s recommendations and the
unit’s effectiveness is verified during each use with
a biological
spore assay containing B.
subtilis.
b)
Wastes so treated shall he segregated
from
normal hospital
wastes and shall be identified in an appropriate manner
as innocuous hospital waste.
Rule 904
Incinerator Permit Issuance
a)
The Agency shall adopt such procedures as are necessary
for permit issuance under this Part.
Such procedures
shall be included in an Agency Criteria Document.
The
permit required under this Part may be issued as a
condition of any permit issued pursuant to Section 9(h)
of the Act and Chapter
2.
b)
The Agency shall issue a permit if and only if the
operator submits adequate proof that the incinerator
will be designed, operated and maintained so as not
to cause a violation of the Act or Chapter
9,
Part IX.
C)
If an Agency Criteria Document is promulgated and if
it contains criteria with regard to any condition of a
permit,
then for purposes of permit issuance proof of
conformity with the Agency Criteria Document shall be
prima facie evidence of no violation.
However, non—
conformity with the Agency criteria document shall not
be grounds for permit denial
if the condition of sub-
section
(b)
of this rule is met.
Rule 905
Agency Criteria
a)
The Agency may adopt criteria for the design, operation,
and maintenance of incinerators to be used to render
hazardous hospital waste innocuous.
Such criteria as
are adopted shall be set forth in an Agency Criteria
40—167
Document and shall be revised from time to time to
reflect current engineering judgment and advances in
the state of art.
b)
In adopting new or revised criteria or procedures, the
Agency shall comply with the requirements of the Illinois
Administrative Procedure Act,
Ill. Rev. Stat.
1979,
Ch.
127, §1001 et seq.
To the extent the Agency adopts such
criteria, they will represent a formal Agency interpre-
tation of what is consistent with the Act and Chapter
9
and necessary to accomplish the purposes of the Act.
Rule 906
Recordkeeping Requirements for Generators of Hazardous
Hospital Waste
Generators of hazardous hospital waste who render such waste
into innocuous hospital waste pursuant to Rule 902 shall keep and
make reasonably available for Agency inspection:
a)
Records of the required biological spore assay tests.
b)
Records describing the type and amounts of waste rendered
innocuous.
Rule 907
Defense to Enforcement Action
Reasonable reliance on a waste generator’s identification of
waste as innocuous or normal hospital waste shall be a complete
defense to an action against a person other than the waste gener-
ator for violation of Rule 902(b).
The record shall be open for written comments for 45 days
from publication in the Illinois Register.
Hearings shall also
be scheduled and held concerning this proposed rule.
Mr. Werner concurred.
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby
ertify that the above Order was adopted
on the
/8~
day of
___________
1980, by a vote of
~~J-c
—.
Christan L. Moft~t,Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
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