{"ref":"CA-HH-IC-03","title":"Sharps, Home-Generated Medical Waste, and Patient Instruction","category":"Infection control","summary":"Sets out how the Agency handles sharps and medical waste that its staff generate while caring for patients, under the California Medical Waste Management Act (Cal. Health & Safety Code §117600 et seq.) and the Cal/OSHA bloodborne pathogens standard; how staff carry limited quantities of medical waste to the office under the materials of trade exception (up to 35.2 pounds, with a log the receiving facility keeps for two years); how the Agency confirms its generator status with the local enforcement agency; and how staff teach patients and caregivers to dispose of the patient’s own home-generated sharps, which may never go in the trash or recycling (§118286).","inShort":["Drop every needle you use into your own sharps container at once. Never use the patient’s trash.","Put items soaked with blood in a red biohazard bag and tie it.","Carry no more than 35.2 pounds of waste, and sign the waste log when you bring it to the office.","Teach patients never to put their needles or lancets in the trash or recycling.","Do not take a patient’s own sharps container away. Show the family the local drop-off or mail-back options."],"primaryCitation":"Cal. Health & Safety Code §117600","citations":["Cal. Health & Safety Code §117600","Cal. Health & Safety Code §117671","Cal. Health & Safety Code §117680","Cal. Health & Safety Code §117690","Cal. Health & Safety Code §117700","Cal. Health & Safety Code §117705","Cal. Health & Safety Code §117800","Cal. Health & Safety Code §117943","Cal. Health & Safety Code §117945","Cal. Health & Safety Code §117946","Cal. Health & Safety Code §117950","Cal. Health & Safety Code §117960","Cal. Health & Safety Code §117976","Cal. Health & Safety Code §118147","Cal. Health & Safety Code §118280","Cal. Health & Safety Code §118286","8 CCR §5193(d)(3)"],"federalCitations":["42 CFR §484.70(c)","49 CFR §173.6"],"surveyorAsks":["What happens to a needle your nurse uses in a patient’s home?","How do your staff carry used sharps containers back to the office, and where is the log?"],"forms":[],"headings":["Terms of Reference","1. Purpose","2. Scope","3. Definitions","4. Policy Statement (Cal. Health & Safety Code §117600)","5. Generator Status and Registration","6. Sharps and Medical Waste Generated During a Visit","7. Carrying Medical Waste to the Office","8. The Patient’s Own Sharps (Home-Generated Sharps Waste)","9. Other Waste in the Home","10. Spills","11. Responsibilities","12. Records and Compliance Monitoring","13. Staff Training","14. References","15. Related Policies and Forms","16. Approval","17. Revision History"],"version":"1.0","sample":false,"pack":"ca-hha","state":"California","service":"Home health","guides":[{"path":"/guides/infection-control-policy/","h1":"What should a home care infection control policy include?"},{"path":"/guides/home-health-agency-policies/","h1":"What policies and procedures are required for home health agencies?"},{"path":"/guides/home-health-conditions-of-participation/","h1":"Home health Conditions of Participation: which policies each one needs"}],"agency":{"name":"Sample Agency","legalName":"Sample Agency, LLC","logo":null}}