Major Clinical Waste Producer

Major clinical waste producers includes the following：

Public hospitals, clinics and institutions managed by the Hospital Authority;
Private hospitals and maternity homes defined under the Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Maternity Homes Registration Ordinance (Cap. 165);
The Prince Philip Dental Hospital and
Government clinics and medical laboratories (whether they are managed by the Department of Health or other Government departments).

Know the Duty of Major Clinical Waste Producer

Waste producers have a duty of care to take the following measures in managing the clinical waste generated from their premises :

Segregate clinical waste from other waste streams and prevent clinical waste from entering the disposal chain of municipal solid waste;
Package and label clinical waste properly to enable easy identification, including information on the source of generation;
Provide safe and secure temporary storage area for clinical waste;
Ensure their staff take all necessary safety measures in handling clinical waste, and provide sufficient training for them; and
Compile a Clinical Waste Management Plan for reference by their staff.

Specifically, the Regulation requires all waste producers to arrange for their clinical waste to be properly disposed of. Waste producers are deemed to have discharged the duty if they consign the waste to a licensed clinical waste collector (“licensed collector”), or arrange the waste to be delivered to a collection point or licensed clinical waste disposal facility (“licensed disposal facility”) according to the requirements specified in the Regulation. The Regulation also requires waste producers to keep records of the clinical waste consigned to licensed collectors or delivered to a collection point or licensed disposal facility, and to produce such records for inspection upon request by the Director of Environmental Protection (“the Director”).

See also:

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Know the Duty of Small Clinical Waste Producer

Waste producers have a duty of care to take the following measures in managing the clinical waste generated from their premises:

Segregate clinical waste from other waste streams and prevent clinical waste from entering the disposal chain of municipal solid waste;
Package and label clinical waste properly to enable easy identification, including information on the source of generation;
Provide safe and secure temporary storage area for clinical waste;
Ensure their staff take all necessary safety measures in handling clinical waste, and provide sufficient training for them; and

Specifically, the Clinical Waste Regulation requires all waste producers to arrange for their clinical waste to be properly disposed of. Waste producers are deemed to have discharged the duty if they consign the waste to a licensed clinical waste collector (“licensed collector”), or arrange the waste to be delivered to a collection point or licensed clinical waste disposal facility (“licensed disposal facility”) according to the requirements specified in the Regulation. The Regulation also requires waste producers to keep records of the clinical waste consigned to licensed collectors or delivered to a collection point or licensed disposal facility, and to produce such records for inspection upon request by the Director of Environmental Protection (“the Director”).

See also:

Small Clinical Waste Producers

Small clinical waste producers includes

Private medical clinics/practices;
Private dental clinics/practices;
Private dental, medical, veterinary or pathological laboratories;
Private Chinese medicine clinics/practices;
Residential care homes for the elderly;
Universities with medical teaching or research (including Chinese medicine);
Pharmaceutical companies with medical research;
Private veterinary clinics/practices;
Nursing homes;
Health and beauty centres where medical practices are conducted; and
Other relevant organizations.

Obtain a premises codes

What is a premises Codes?

Sample of a Premises Codes card

Premises Codes is a unique number peculiar to each location of a given clinical waste producer.

Who need a premises codes?

If you are a producer of clinical waste, you should obtain a Premises Codes from EPD before you consign clinical waste for disposal. You will need this codes for completing the Trip Ticket. A Premises Codes will identify the name of a producer and the premises where clinical waste is produced. If you have more than one waste producing premises, you should obtain an individual Premises Codes for each of these premises.

How to obtain a Premises Codes?

Download and fill in the Premises Code Request Form and fax it to us together with supporting documents. All requests are free of charge.

Premises Code Request Form

If you are starting a new healthcare venue

If you intend to begin a clinic, laboratory, a nursing home or a service that will produce clinical waste, you should first obtain a Clinical Waste Producer Premises Codes from EPD. Simply fill in the Premises Code Request Form, sign, stamp your company chop and fax the completed form to EPD with the copy of BRC/HKID (if applicable).

Premises Code Request Form

If you have forgotten the Premises Codes

You should quote the number when you consign the Clinical Waste for collection by a Clinical Waste collection company. If you have acquired a Clinical Waste Producer Premises Codes from EPD but forgotten the number, you could send us a form complete with authorized signature, company stamp and supporting document. We will retrieve the Premises Codes and inform you in writing. No service charge is incurred.

Premises Code Request Form

If your operation moves out of a place or you change the business identity

You may relocate your operation to a new place or take on a different business name. If so, the previous Premises Codes will no longer be valid. You should advise us by completing the form and fax it to us with supplementary information. We will issue a new codes for the new address or new business identity. Do not use the wrong premises codes for clinical waste consignments.

If you no longer produce clinical waste at the site or you are terminating business

You should promptly cancel any irrelevant premises codes to avoid confusion, clerical error and misuse of identity. Notify us using the standard form, which should be complete with authorized signature and company chop.

Premises Codes Request Form

If you have redundant Premises Codes

If you have obtained premises codess with different names at the same site but one or more of these numbers are never used, you should cancel the redundant premises codes(s) to avoid confusion and possible errors. No processing fee is incurred. Notify us using the standard form, which should be complete with authorized signature and company chop.

Premises Code Request Form

Training, Safety and Emergency Response Procedures for Major Producers

By law, all clinical waste producers and licensed collectors should make the necessary arrangement and provide adequate supervision to prevent any danger or injury to their staff arising from the handling of clinical waste. They should also take all such precautions as are necessary for preventing any danger to public health or safety, any pollution to the environment and any nuisance to the neighbouring area in storing, removing, collecting, receiving, delivering and transporting of clinical waste. Reference to Section 7 of the Waste Disposal (Clinical Waste)(General) Regulation is relevant.

General Requirements

Basic measures include but are not limited to the following ::

Responsible personnel for the management of clinical waste and frontline staff involved in handling clinical waste should all receive proper training.
Direct handling of clinical waste containers should be minimized as far as possible through provision of bins on wheels, trolleys or carts, transit skips, etc.
Regular inspection of clinical waste storage area (and its access) should be conducted to ensure that it is free from obstruction and is kept dry and clean.
No one should eat, drink or smoke while handling clinical waste. Reminder should be posted at appropriate areas.
Safety and health requirements under other relevant ordinances (e.g. Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance (Cap. 509)) and regulations should be observed.

Safety Equipment and Training

Employers should ensure that all employees involved in handling clinical waste are provided with adequate safety information, protective equipment and training.

All staff who may be required to handle or transfer clinical waste should be trained to -

follow safety procedures and wear appropriate personal safety and protective gear before handling clinical waste;
identify different types of clinical waste and know their packaging and handling requirements;
seal different types of waste containers;
label different types of waste containers;
handle plastic bags by the neck only;
avoid damaging the packaging;
handle accidental spillage and leakage of clinical waste;
check that waste containers and their seals are not broken or damaged after movement;
know the precautions in dealing with special types of clinical waste (e.g. sharps, infectious waste); and
observe personal hygiene practices, e.g. wash hands thoroughly after handling clinical waste

Emergency Procedures

Employers should establish procedures for handling emergencies involving spillage or leakage of clinical waste and make available the procedures to their staff for reference.

In the event of emergencies involving spillage or leakage of clinical waste, the spillage or leakage should be stopped as soon as practicable and the spilled or leaked waste cleaned up promptly. The affected area should be properly cleaned and disinfected. Absorbent materials, disinfection chemicals, protective clothing, masks, eye protection, gloves should be used as appropriate in the clean-up and disinfection operations.

All materials arising from the clean-up of spilled or leaked clinical waste should be disposed of as clinical waste and should be properly packaged and labelled before disposal.

All spillage or leakage incidents should be recorded and reported to the responsible person according to the established procedures. Follow-up investigations of the incidents should be conducted so that improvement measures can be taken to avoid recurrence of similar incidents in future.

If you are starting a new healthcare venue

If you intend to begin a clinic, laboratory, a nursing home or a service that will produce clinical waste, you should first obtain a Clinical Waste Producer Premises Codes from EPD. Simply fill in the Premises Codes Request Form, sign, stamp your company chop and fax the completed form to EPD with the copy of BRC/HKID (if applicable).

Premises Codes Request Form

If you have forgotten the Premises Codes

You should quote the number when you consign the Clinical Waste for collection by a Clinical Waste collection company. If you have acquired a Clinical Waste Producer Premises Codes from EPD but forgotten the number, you could send us a form complete with authorized signature, company stamp and supporting document. We will retrieve the Premises Codes and inform you in writing. No service charge is incurred.

Premises Codes Request Form

If your operation moves out of a place or you change the business identity

You may relocate your operation to a new place or take on a different business name. If so, the previous Premises Codes will no longer be valid. You should advise us by completing the form and fax it to us with supplementary information. We will issue a new codes for the new address or new business identity. Do not use the wrong premises codes for clinical waste consignments.

If you no longer produce clinical waste at the site or you are terminating business

You should promptly cancel any irrelevant premises codes to avoid confusion, clerical error and misuse of identity. Notify us using the standard form, which should be complete with authorized signature and company chop.

Premises Codes Request Form