Reference/Features

Duty of care for waste management

7 mins read CQC requirements Decontamination/HTM 01-05 Risk management
Dental practices should have good management systems in place to ensure they comply with regulations that govern how they store and dispose of waste. Not complying with regulations can result in prosecution, and harm to staff, patients, the public and the environment

A dental practice has a duty of care to track the healthcare waste it produces from production to final destination and disposal. This is to protect itself, patients, the public and the environment from harm from hazardous waste.

Removal of waste from the dental practice needs a good management system, with the registered waste manager at the practice taking the responsibility to make sure the system operates successfully and within legislation set out in the Safe Management of Healthcare Waste, Version 2.0 England regulations (Department of Health (DH), 2011a) and Environment Agency requirements.

Practices should use safe management of healthcare waste regulations alongside the Dental Decontamination in Primary Care Dental Facilities: Waste Disposal regulations (DH, 2011b) and appendix 1 of Health Technical Memorandum 01-05 for guidance (DH, 2009).

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