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California Department of Health Services News Release CONTACT Ken August or http://www.dhs.ca.gov Lea Brooks (916) 657-3064
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State Health Department Temporarily Suspends Oakland Medical Waste Treatment Plant Permit
SACRAMENTO -- Integrated Environmental Systems (IES), a medical waste treatment facility in Oakland, has been prohibited from accepting new medical waste for 30 days so it can process an illegal backlog of waste, State Health Director Diana M. Bontá, R.N., Dr.P.H., announced today. The California Department of Health Services (CDHS) temporarily suspended the facility's permit for violating the California Medical Waste Management Act, which requires medical waste treatment facilities not to store biohazardous and sharps waste above 32 degrees for more than seven days before treatment. IES also is in violation of a cease and desist order issued May 24 by CDHS that required it to develop a correction plan to address the backlog of waste by May 29. IES submitted a plan, which outlined how it would reduce the backlog by June 4, but has not followed it and remains in violation of the law. CDHS also issued a limited medical waste treatment permit that allows IES to process the backlog of waste. Today's actions do not affect the facility's transfer station permit, which means waste can be accepted at the site as long as it is transferred and treated elsewhere within the seven-day period. "The purpose of these actions is to ensure that IES eliminates its backlog of waste awaiting treatment while avoiding the creation of a new inventory of untreated waste over seven days old," Bontá explained. "The department's initial focus is bringing this facility into compliance with the law. If IES does not come into compliance, we will consider revoking its permit. We're also exploring possible enforcement actions that could result in fines and other penalties. Biohazardous waste includes bandages, laboratory wastes, surgery specimens, tissue and some out-dated pharmaceutical waste. Sharps waste includes scalpels, needles and syringes. The waste is from hospitals and other health care providers throughout California that is transported to the Oakland facility for treatment rendering it noninfectious. IES' Oakland facility was granted a permit by CDHS in 1992 that was renewed in 1997. The facility's permit, which allows it to process 1,000 pounds per hour in each of its two incinerators and an additional 550-900 pounds per hour in a microwave unit, comes up for renewal in 2002. The facility was found in compliance with the law during its last routine inspection on June 5, 2000. IES also operates an offsite treatment facility in Wilmington and transfer stations in Red Bluff, Modesto and Chowchilla. CDHS visited the Oakland and Wilmington facilities in May after being notified by a concerned IES employee that waste was being stored beyond the seven-day time limit in Oakland. An investigation found hundreds of barrels of medical and sharps waste in Oakland that was being stored beyond mandated treatment dates. Subsequent inspections found that the number of barrels of outdated waste had been reduced, but not eliminated. CDHS staff has been monitoring the facility on a daily basis to ensure that the outdated medical waste being stored there does not pose a public health threat. |