Waste (Biological)

For guidance on all available waste streams please refer to recycling and waste page on the Estates Division website 

All waste from biological activities in containment laboratories must be inactivated before leaving the building.

Only under exceptional circumstances should non-inactivated contaminated waste be transported from the containment facility and only where this can be fully supported and justified by an up-to-date risk assessment and implementation of effective containment and control measures. Consent for such an exemption must be approved either by your School Safety Officer or the Head of Biological Safety at the Safety Office.

‘Biological Agent(s)’ in the context of waste management includes all types of viable organisms, whether genetically modified or not, including specified animal pathogens and other regulated biological agent or carrier of, such as those licenced under APHA.

Biological agent: under the COSHH Regulations means a micro-organism, any cell culture (mammalian or non-mammalian), or human endoparasite, which may cause infection, allergy, and toxicity or otherwise create a hazard to human health. If any substance (eg RNA, antibodies, proteins, toxins) has the potential to cause harm to humans through biological activity, then this form must also be used.

Micro-organism: means a microbiological entity, cellular or non-cellular, which is capable of replication or of transferring genetic material.

Cell culture: means the in-vitro growth of cells derived from multicellular organisms.

Waste management is an integral part of effectively managing the risks associated with all biological agents and substances. Suitable procedures to deal with contaminated waste must be prepared, implemented and monitored. The arrangements should address all aspects of waste management including storage, transport and inactivation as well as those required to deal with non-routine scenarios such as adverse events (eg an accident resulting in loss of containment) and failure of equipment used to inactivate waste. The complexity and stringency of the arrangements and inactivation methods should be proportionate to the level of risk posed by the bioagent. The waste management arrangements can be incorporated into the local rules or code of practice.

The term ‘waste’ is used to cover all material that is either potentially, or known to be, contaminated with biological agents and that is intended for discard. On this basis, the type, amount and variety of waste material generated can be considerable. This is not limited to obvious materials such as consumables for routinely used equipment (eg pipette tips), but also items such as animal bedding, carcases, discarded materials and PPE. Waste management arrangements should be developed in consultation with users to ensure that all eventualities have been identified and that the final arrangement/procedure is appropriate to the activities being performed and is practical (ie it can be effectively implemented in the containment facility).

The waste management arrangements should provide for a robust means to ensure that, regardless of the particular biological agents being used, the contaminated waste generated is safely handled, stored, transported and inactivated appropriately. As a minimum the arrangements must provide for the:

(a) identification of systems, including operating procedures and infrastructure to ensure the safe handling, transport and disposal of waste contaminated with biological agents;

(b) provision of suitable and sufficient training to ensure users who are tasked to handle waste are competent to do so;

(c) provision of suitable maintenance arrangements to ensure that equipment used to store, transport and inactivate waste is maintained and examined;

(d) means to verify that inactivation of waste is effective; and

(e) provision of a system to ensure that the above has been implemented and is effective.

Where contaminated waste is to be transported (eg due to the location of equipment such as an autoclave or incinerator), pre-treatment with a suitable disinfectant , or another means eg freezing, will need to be validated to show that waste is inactivated. The waste must be transported in suitable storage containers. As a minimum, when transporting waste known to be or that could potentially be infectious, the containers must be robust, secure and leak-proof, and capable of ensuring a means of containment (eg double contained) such that if there was an adverse event (eg being dropped) it would not result in the loss of containment. Procedures should be devised and implemented to deal with an adverse incident such as a spillage of material in a corridor.

The method used to inactivate the biological agent and any contaminated waste must be validated 'Waste: Inactivation Validation' to demonstrate that it can achieve the appropriate parameters to inactivate the bioagent, taking account of the nature of the waste (ie form, amount, density). The common methods employed include steam sterilization ie autoclaves 'Autoclaves: Validation and Monitoring', chemical disinfection and freezing. The method of validation will vary depending upon the method chosen to inactivate the waste. However, in general terms, the data generated from a validation experiment should indicate the degree of kill of the bioagent at the desired parameters and the factors that can negatively affect the procedure. See also HSE guidance on Autoclaves.

Once validated, the method of inactivation should be routinely monitored (eg via autoclave printouts) to ensure that the method is being applied as intended and is consistent with the conditions used for the validation. The validation should be repeated periodically where there are changes in the working practices or materials that could adversely affect the ability of the procedure to inactivate the pathogen in the waste material (eg the composition of the waste). For chemical inactivation, depending on the nature of the work it may be appropriate to use manufacturers’ validation data assuming that the conditions used are comparable to those under which the manufacturer intends it to be used.

The key aspects of the validation process, such as suitable mode of action, concentration of disinfectant and contact time for kill, should be captured and recorded in operating procedures. The operating procedure should be used to train users tasked with the responsibility of handling waste to ensure they are competent to perform the task correctly and implement the waste treatment arrangements in a consistent manner.

The waste management arrangements must be monitored to ensure that they are being complied with, are working effectively and achieving the desired outcome. This will involve a check or inspection of the suitability of the storage containers, the effectiveness of methods of inactivation of the waste (periodic comparison with validation data), the accuracy of the operating procedures, maintenance records and compliance of users to the waste management procedures. The individual tasked with determining if the arrangements are adequate must be appropriately trained and competent. Where an external contractor is used in any part of the waste management procedure the suitability of their arrangements must be checked.

Pressure Vessel inspections

Please plan ahead and book the engineer and pressure vessel inspector approximately 2 months before the date is due to expire on the certificates. The certificate tells you the date that it is due.

If the expiry date has passed then the equipment must isolated and made unusable, until the inspection can take place and it passes the inspection.

If you continue to use the equipment once the expiry date has passed, you will be in breach of the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 (PSSR) and operating without valid insurance. Doing so will be a compliance and a health and safety breach.