Medical Waste Transportation DOT Requirements

Medical Waste Transportation DOT Requirements

Medical Waste Transportation DOT Requirements. The Department of Transportation regulates the transportation of medical waste, it falls under one of the nine classes of hazardous materials. DOT requires special training for staff members who are responsible for preparing medical waste for transportation, even if they just sign the manifest.

These standards can be found in CFR (code of federal regulations) 49.100-704. Healthcare facilities are considered generators of medical waste and must ensure any employee who loads, unloads, or handles medical waste for transportation, which falls under DOTS hazardous materials, receives hazardous materials training.

This means that employees who perform these tasks such as placing medical waste into a shipping box, closing the biohazard box for shipping, or completing the manifest (shipping papers) must be properly trained.

Bloodborne Pathogens

While bloodborne pathogens training is also a requirement, it does not, in-and-of itself complete the required training for DOT requirements. DOT requires hazardous material training, and it must ensure an employee is familiar with the general requirements for hazardous materials handling, and is able to recognize and identify hazardous materials, has knowledge of the DOT requirements applicable to their job function, and has knowledge of emergency response information, self-protection measures and accident prevention procedures.

Hazardous Materials Training

The hazardous materials training can be added to bloodborne pathogens training programs. There are three major sections for hazardous materials training.

1. General Awareness and Familiarization. This will include things like identification of hazardous materials, The DOT placard system, and DOT labeling.
2. Specific Job Function Training. This will include preparing medical waste for shipping and preparing or signing shipping papers.
3. Safety Training. This is to protect employees from exposure to medical waste (in DOT Terms Hazardous Materials). It should include things like who to contact incase of an exposure incident, proper safety procedures when handling or storing medical waste.

Training for DOT must be completed within 90 days of assignment and must be repeated every three years. OSHA requires Bloodborne Pathogens Training be repeated annually or when a change in the process is implemented. It is a good idea to update DOT training while performing annual Bloodborne Pathogens training.

Should you have any questions concerning Bloodborne Pathogens Training or the additional steps needed for employees that handle and prepare hazardous materials for transportation, contact Healthcare Waste Management at 888-427-5797.

We have been servicing the Midwest for decades and have thousands of clients. We invest in our business, to take care of your business. We directly hire and train the employees who will come into your facility, we own and equip the trucks to safely haul medical waste, we use intelligent routing systems to minimize our time on the road, and we own the processing plants that destroy medical waste. From Start to Finish, we take care of it all for you.

Should you have any questions or simply want a quote for your medical waste disposal needs, compliance training needs, or document destruction requirements feel free to call us at 888-427-5797.