|
|
|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
political concerns change. Two specific areas are plastics and biomedical waste. Many
ships have set up recycling programs for aluminum, metal, and paper for MWR money.
So you may notice multiple trashcans in spaces designated for specific items. Plastics
are definitely one of those items, while underway. Plastics can no longer be dumped at
sea but must be retained on station until they can be disposed of ashore. There are
some loopholes. Food contaminated plastics, since they are a potential health hazard,
can be disposed of after three days at sea once they are weighted down. If there is too
much non-food contaminated plastics, or you deem it a health hazard, and you have
been at sea more than 20 days and won t hit port for another three, the CO can
authorize the ship to dump weighted plastics at sea. This must be logged in the Deck
Log with date, time, and location. As you can see, it is easier to simply keep plastics on
station until you arrive in port.
166
BIOMEDICAL WASTE
Biomedical waste is an issue that has recently gotten much unpleasant press, due to its
having washed up on public beaches. Most of you are familiar with what biomedical
waste is. Every hospital has red bags and sharps containers for these and you learn
what goes in them as interns and medical students. Most of your corpsmen should also
be aware of what goes in them too, but don t assume that. Check the TYCOM
instructions for specific details for your area (NAVMEDCOMINST 6280.1, 04 Apr 89,
covers shore facilities) and brief all your personnel upon arrival and periodically
(semiannually or when you notice a problem).
As with other trash, plastics, aluminum, and biomedical waste must be sorted at the
source to have an effective program. At times it will seem like you have labeled trash
cans every where in the medical spaces, but if they aren t convenient to where people
are, they won t get used. Obvious places to put biomedical trashcans include the
treatment rooms, OR, your exam room, the ward, and the lab. Sharps containers also
go in the treatment room, pharmacy, and lab. How much biomedical waste you
generate will determine the size of the containers. Your predecessor should be able to
brief you on this. All sizes of items are supposed to be standard stock now and easier to
order.
Once you have segregated the biomedical waste, it must be autoclaved and labeled with
the date and time that was done. If you have two sterilizers, designate one for
biomedical waste and have the duty crew do this after hours the stuff smells when it s
cooking. You must designate an area or storeroom where the autoclaved material is
stored until you dispose of it properly ashore. Even though the material is no longer
infectious, you must label the area where it is stored, as well as areas where it is
generated, with one of the universal orange biohazard symbols. The print shop on a
tender can make these for you if you give them a color pattern.
Each base and each community handles the disposal of biomedical waste differently.
There are no federal standards, but you still have to meet federal, state, and local
regulations. Check with your local branch clinic or group Medical Officer to see how
biomedical waste is disposed of in your area. The same goes for overseas ports. In US
ports overseas, it is not too difficult to dispose of biomedical waste ashore, but in non-US
ports, you should plan to keep it until you reach a US port; it is difficult and often too
expensive to arrange disposal. The importance of the plastics at sea and the biomedical
waste program cannot be overemphasized. COs and XOs have been reprimanded for
dumping biomedical waste at sea. If that happens, plan to be joining your XO and CO in
hack.
HAZARDOUS WASTE
The hazardous materials (HM) program is not one that you will manage (Safety does),
but you will be involved with it from the treatment standpoint and the generator/user
standpoint. (See OPNAVINST 5100.19C, Chapter B-3.) All the x-ray and lab chemicals
are hazardous and require special handling, storage, and disposal. Medical generally
has a flammable locker assigned to it for the storage of flammables, e.g., pesticides,
acids, etc. You must keep track of what is in the flammable locker, that materials are
stored correctly, and that they are disposed of properly. This is done through the
167
hazardous materials coordinator, who will fill out all the proper forms and take the
materials off your hands. Make sure you get a receipt for the material you dispose of for
your files in case there are any questions later. The EPA is taking a very keen interest in
how the Navy disposes of its hazardous materials/hazardous waste (HM/HW).
Therefore, the commands will too. If you have any doubt whether something is HW, ask
the HM coordinator before you dump it.
To help you treat personnel who have been exposed to hazardous materials, there is the
Navy s Hazardous Material Information System (HMIS). This is a microfiche deck that
contains emergency treatment and handling information on most hazardous materials
procured through the Navy. Medical should be on the mailing list; it comes out quarterly.
If you aren t, see the SUPPO, who can get you on the mailing list. For hazardous
materials procured open purchase (a practice discouraged), there are Material Safety
Data Sheets (MSDS), which also contain emergency treatment and handling
information. In addition, each work center supervisor is to use the HMIS or the MSDS to
train personnel to use proper safety precautions and be aware of particular hazards
associated with the chemicals in that work area.
While you are not responsible for any HM/HW other than your own, try to keep track of
how other departments handle their HM/HW from a safety standpoint. During a zone
inspection or a workplace walk-through, just ask to see the flammable storage locker
and look in drawers and cupboards to see what is present (you will be amazed). Make
sure that the print shop, the photo lab, and other shops are disposing of HW properly
and not pouring it down the sink. Help the Safety Officer whenever possible.
168
169
Chapter 18, DEPLOYMENT
Like it or not, ships were built to go to sea, not sit at a pier (even tenders deploy
routinely). A ship s schedule is planned around the mission of the ship on each type of
deployment or operation. Each operation and deployment has its own specific
operational and medical threats, and your job is to plan accordingly by anticipating
problems. You will never see all the problems, but some are pretty obvious; for
example, cold weather injuries are a very real threat on operations in the North Atlantic
in January. What follows are some of the tools and resources you can use to plan the
medical support for an operation or deployment.
REFRESHER TRAINING (REFTRA)
This is generally a two-week exercise to prepare a ship for deployment. It is conducted
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plkwiatpolny.htw.pl
|
|
| Cytat |
Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
|
|
