National Norms and Standards relating to Environmental Health

• A waste management team, that comprises of the following members must be in place in eachfacility, to implement the facility waste management plan:• A facility Waste Management Officer;• An Environmental Health Practitioner;• Heads of departments within the health care facility;• An Infection Control Officer;• A Chief Pharmacist;• A Radiation Officer;• A Senior Nursing Manager;• A nominated Health and Safety representative;• Cleaning contractor/ cleaning manager;• A Health and Safety Manager; and• A waste management contractor, when required.c) The WMP must outline and document the following:• Duties and responsibilities of each team member;• An assessment of health care risk waste generated by the facility• Documents for all processes in the health care facility, and such documents must include but notlimited to, documented work instructions and work procedures, which are maintained andimplemented in the facility.• The work procedures and instructions which are easy to read, such procedures and instructionsmust be posted at work places and at the point of use and must contain: identification of health care risk waste category; segregation of HCRW into appropriate container; training in work procedures and work instructions; cleaning and disinfection; correct use of all facilities, equipment and personal protective clothing; storage of HCRW at the point of generation until collection; transportation of containerized HCRW for intermediate storage; transportation of HCRW for final treatment and disposal; controlls and monitoring processes in each unit or department to achieve the specifiedcleanliness and infection control.• Material safety data sheets for chemical waste;• Employees training detailing; the attendance of training by all full time and part time/contract employees when employedand the attendance register, training schedule for new employees and refresher trainings with training dates, the scope of training, should include; aspects of the health care risk management policy,technical instructions relevant to the target group on the application of waste managementpractices, monitoring techniques, procedures in case of spillages and accidents, the use ofpersonal protective clothing, safe handling of health care risk waste and the contents ofmaterial safety data sheets.• Personal and workplace hygiene procedures, detailing personal and environmental hygienepractices that must be exercised by all employees to protect themselves from accidentalinfections and exposures;• Inspection and quality control procedures, which outlines types and volumes of health risk wastegenerated, waste segregation procedures, collection schedules, the authorized contractor forcollection, transportation and disposal,, with record keeping thereof, any deviations from theprocedures and corrective action;• Health and safety policy with recommendations for medical examinations, check up, and a policyon immunization;• Safety instructions and precautions for the handling and storage of health care risk waste;• An emergency response policy and strategy to deal with spills of infectious and chemical waste.Such policy and strategy shall include: Means to notify the person designated to supervise and execute the clean up; Clean up procedure for each type of spillage; Spill kit, consisting of:DOH. Norms and standards for environmental health in South Africa Feb 2013 124