State regulators flagged Española Hospital personnel for violating several rules regarding solid waste disposal, after an onsite inspection at the facility uncovered the improper storage and transfer of infectious waste.
A New Mexico Environment Department inspector revealed, May 20, hospital personnel failed to properly secure used needles and biohazard bags containing infectious waste stored for shipping. He also flagged the medical facility for errantly allowing the shipment of infectious waste to an unlicensed facility.
The inspection is a follow-up to the May 9 emergency shut down at the Alcalde Transfer Station. North Central Solid Waste Authority personnel closed the station after an attendant found several red biohazard bags mixed with the regular commercial and residential trash.
The discovery represented a breach in infectious waste disposal protocol and the closure was necessary to give transfer station staff time to isolate the waste.
Solid Waste Bureau Enforcement Section Manager George W. Akeley Jr. compiled a 23-page report outlining the five violations observed by inspector Kenneth Marshall, during the May 20 inspections of both the hospital and transfer station.
Although the biohazard bags found at the transfer station contained innocuous material, mostly papers, state law mandates they be treated the same way they would if the bags contained waste, like an amputated finger.
“Gino Romero, Manager, NCSWA (North Central Solid Waste Authority), performed a waste screening inspection and determined that the three plastic bags contained items consistent with MSW (Material Solid Waste),” Akeley wrote. “However, any waste disposed within a biohazard labeled bag, and particularly when such waste is generated at a medical facility, must be managed as infectious waste.”
Altogether four of the five violations were observed at the Transfer Station and included the unauthorized disposal of special (infectious waste), failure to segregate infectious waste, failure to contain infectious waste inside rigid containers and failure to keep accurate track of infectious waste originated from the transfer station discovery.
An example of a rigid container would be the white or red garbage can-like drums made out of hard plastic that don’t bend easily. Presumably, the containers help keep the waste from leaking contaminates.
The fifth violation, which was observed inside the hospital, found that staff failed to securely tie a plastic bag holding infectious waste.
“The inspection documented the presence of a lined container within the ‘Biohazardous waste room’ that held an unsecured plastic biohazard bag,” the report states. “The contents had spilled into the liner of the container. The SWR (Solid Waste Rules), states that plastic bags holding infectious waste ‘shall be securely tied to prevent leakage or expulsion of solid or liquid waste during storage, handling and transport.’”
The inspector also observed needle containers stored in precarious ways, which could create an avoidable hazard for hospital staff.
“A rigid container in Room No. 3065 was observed to be overflowing with sealed sharps containers,” Akeley wrote. “Once a rigid container is removed from the point of origin and enters into the transport phase, it must be sealed (lidded). Additionally, the haphazard stacking of sharps containers beyond the top of a rigid container creates the potential for the sharps containers to fall from an elevation that may result in the spillage of the sharps.”
When Romero first learned of the waste, he contacted Ryan Jewell, a representative from the hospital’s medical waste contractor, Stericyle, and informed him of the problem.
Jewell said Stericycle doesn’t bag waste, they have a limited role of just transferring the waste to an approved facility.
Española Hospital Administrator Brenda Romero said the hospital places a fair amount of weight on the inspection findings and will use them as a learning experience.
“We take this all very seriously,” Brenda Romero said. “We are more than open to learning about any opportunities that might be for us.”
To ensure the violations don’t repeat themselves, she said she and the hospital’s staff have taken actions.
“The action was based around reeducating the staff and having them review the policy to go over the specific issues,” Brenda Romero said. “So it won’t happen again, we formalized our process to monitor compliance with the policy on a weekly basis.”
She said the bottom line is the hospital takes patient, employee and community safety very seriously and would like the public to know they are handling the situation correctly.
Gino Romero said in addition to the biohazard bags turning up at the transfer station, his staff has run across the bags in other locations throughout the County.
“We have come across quite a few of those bags in the last few months,” Gino Romero said. “We are wondering if it is a case of people taking them home.”
Brenda Romero said the hospital staff will also be tasked with monitoring the use of the biohazard bags to assure they are used properly.
She said the hospital’s staff complied with the 10-day timeline state regulators gave hospital officials to correct the problem.