Minnesota Session Laws - 1991, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1991 

                        CHAPTER 344-S.F.No. 783 
           An act relating to health; infectious waste control; 
          clarifying that veterinarians are also covered by the 
          act; clarifying requirements for management and 
          generators' plans; allowing certain medical waste to 
          be mixed with other waste under certain conditions; 
          creating a medical waste task force; appropriating 
          money; amending Minnesota Statutes 1990, sections 
          116.77; 116.78, subdivisions 4 and 7; 116.79, 
          subdivisions 1, 3, and 4; and 116.80, subdivision 2. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 116.77, is 
amended to read: 
    116.77 [COVERAGE.] 
    Sections 116.75 to 116.83 and 609.671, subdivision 10, 
cover any person, including a veterinarian, who generates, 
treats, stores, transports, or disposes of infectious or 
pathological waste except but not including infectious or 
pathological waste generated by households, farm operations, or 
agricultural businesses.  Except as specifically provided, 
sections 116.75 to 116.83 do not limit or alter treatment or 
disposal methods for infectious or pathological waste. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 116.78, 
subdivision 4, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 4.  [SHARPS.] Sharps, except those generated from a 
household or from a farm operation or agricultural business: 
    (1) must be placed in puncture-resistant containers; 
    (2) may not be compacted or mixed with other waste material 
whether or not the sharps are decontaminated unless it is part 
of an infectious waste decontamination process approved by the 
commissioner of health or the commissioner of the pollution 
control agency that will prevent exposure during transportation 
and disposal; and 
    (3) may not be disposed of at refuse-derived fuel 
facilities or at other facilities where waste is hand sorted. 
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 116.78, 
subdivision 7, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 7.  [COMPACTION AND MIXTURE WITH OTHER WASTES.] 
Infectious waste may not be compacted or mixed with other waste 
materials prior to incineration or disposal.  Compaction is 
acceptable if it is part of an infectious waste system, approved 
by the commissioner of health or the commissioner of the 
pollution control agency, that is designed to prevent exposure 
during storage, transportation, and disposal. 
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 116.79, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    Subdivision 1.  [PREPARATION OF MANAGEMENT PLANS.] (a) To 
the extent applicable to the facility, a person in charge of a 
facility that generates, stores, decontaminates, incinerates, or 
disposes of infectious or pathological waste must prepare a 
management plan for the infectious or pathological waste handled 
by the facility.  A person may prepare a common management plan 
for all generating facilities owned and operated by the person.  
If a single plan is prepared to cover multiple facilities, the 
plan must identify common policy and procedures for the 
facilities and any management procedures that are facility 
specific.  The plan must identify each generating facility 
covered by the plan.  A management plan must list all 
physicians, dentists, chiropractors, podiatrists, veterinarians, 
certified nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, or 
physician assistants, employed by, under contract to, or working 
at the generating facilities, except hospitals or laboratories.  
A management plan from a hospital must list the number of 
licensed beds and from a laboratory must list the number of 
generating employees. 
    (b) The management plan must describe, to the extent the 
information is applicable to the facility: 
    (1) the type of infectious waste and pathological waste 
that the person generates or handles; 
    (2) the segregation, packaging, labeling, collection, 
storage, and transportation procedures for the infectious waste 
or pathological waste that will be followed; 
    (3) the decontamination or disposal methods for the 
infectious or pathological waste that will be used; 
    (4) the transporters and disposal facilities that will be 
used for the infectious waste; 
    (5) the steps that will be taken to minimize the exposure 
of employees to infectious agents throughout the process of 
disposing of infectious or pathological wastes; and 
    (6) the name of the individual responsible for the 
management of the infectious waste or pathological waste.  
    (c) The management plan must be kept at the facility.  
    (d) To the extent applicable to the facility, management 
plans must be accompanied by a statement of the quantity of 
infectious and pathological waste generated, decontaminated, 
stored, incinerated, or disposed of at the facility during the 
previous two-year period.  Quantities may shall be reported by 
weight, volume, or number and capacity of containers in gallons 
or pounds.  The commissioner of health shall prepare a summary 
of the quantities of infectious and pathological waste 
generated, by facility type.  
    (e) A management plan must be updated and resubmitted at 
least once every two years. 
    Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 116.79, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 3.  [GENERATORS' PLANS.] (a) Management plans 
prepared by facilities that generate infectious or pathological 
waste must be submitted to the commissioner of health with a fee 
of $225 for facilities with 25 or more employees, or a fee of 
$40 for facilities with less than 25 employees.  The fee must be 
deposited in the state treasury and credited to the general fund.
    (b) A person shall submit for each generating facility the 
following fee with the generator's management plan: 
    (1) for a generating facility that is a private practice 
office with two or fewer physicians, dentists, chiropractors, 
podiatrists, veterinarians, certified nurse practitioners, 
certified nurse midwives, or physician assistants, employed by, 
under contract to, or working at the generating facility, a fee 
of $40; 
    (2) for a generating facility that is a private practice 
office with three or more physicians, dentists, chiropractors, 
podiatrists, veterinarians, certified nurse practitioners, 
certified nurse midwives, or physician assistants, employed by, 
under contract to, or working at the generating facility, in 
addition to the fee for two practitioners as prescribed under 
clause (1), a fee of $20 for each additional practitioner, up to 
a maximum total fee of $225; 
    (3) for a generating facility that is a health facility or 
agency other than a hospital or laboratory described in clause 
(5) or (6), a fee of $225.  Long-term health care facilities, 
including nursing homes, boarding care facilities, or 
intermediate care facilities, with less than 25 licensed beds 
shall have a fee of $40.  A corporate research and development 
laboratory with fewer than ten generating employees is also 
included in this category; 
    (4) for a generating facility that is not a health facility 
or agency, a fee of $40.  Included in this category are a 
corporate occupational health clinic; or a college or university 
campus, including its research laboratories, and student health 
service, but not including a hospital; 
    (5) for a generating facility that is a laboratory, 
including a corporate research and development laboratory, with 
ten to 49 generating employees, or a hospital with 50 to 299 
licensed beds, a fee of $450; 
    (6) for a generating facility that is a laboratory, 
including a corporate research and development laboratory, with 
50 or more generating employees or a hospital with 300 or more 
licensed beds, a fee of $600; 
    (7) the following persons shall pay a fee of $225 to cover 
the generation at all its facilities:  
    (i) a community health board; or 
    (ii) Migrant Health Services, Inc.; 
    (8) for a generator with a generating satellite facility or 
mobile facility, that is used for an average of less than five 
hours per week on an annual basis, no additional fee is 
required; 
    (9) for a licensed home care agency with no more than two 
generating employees, a fee of $40; 
    (10) for a licensed home care agency with more than two 
generating employees, a fee of $20 for each generating employee, 
up to a maximum fee of $225; and 
    (11) the fees are waived for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
federal facilities, and state agencies. 
    (b) (c) A person who begins the generation of infectious or 
pathological waste after January 1, 1990, must submit to the 
commissioner of health a copy of the person's management plan 
prior to initiating the handling of the infectious or 
pathological waste.  
    (c) (d) If a hospital or nursing home that is a generator 
also incinerates infectious or pathological waste on site, a 
separate the management plan must be prepared for the 
incineration activities detail that incineration in the plan.  
    (d) (e) The commissioner of health must establish a 
procedure for randomly reviewing the plans.  
    (e) (f) The commissioner of health may require a management 
plan of a generator to be modified if the commissioner of health 
determines that the plan is not consistent with state or federal 
law or that the plan is not adequate to minimize exposure of 
persons to the infectious or pathological waste. 
    Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 116.79, 
subdivision 4, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 4.  [PLANS FOR STORAGE, DECONTAMINATION, 
INCINERATION, AND DISPOSAL FACILITIES.] (a) A person who stores 
or decontaminates infectious or pathological waste, other than 
at the facility where the waste was generated, or a person who 
incinerates or disposes of infectious or pathological waste, 
must submit a copy of the management plan to the commissioner of 
the pollution control agency with a fee of $225.  A person who 
incinerates on site at a hospital must submit a fee of $100.  
The fee must be deposited in the state treasury and credited to 
the general fund.  A person who incinerates on site must submit 
an attachment to the generator's management plan detailing the 
incineration operation. 
    (b) The commissioner shall review the plans and may require 
a plan to be modified within 180 days after the plan is 
submitted if the commissioner determines that the plan is not 
consistent with state or federal law or that the plan is not 
adequate to minimize exposure of persons to the waste. 
    Sec. 7.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 116.80, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 2.  [PREPARATION OF MANAGEMENT PLANS.] (a) A 
commercial transporter in charge of a business that transports 
infectious waste must prepare a management plan for the 
infectious waste handled by the commercial transporter. 
    (b) The management plan must describe, to the extent the 
information is applicable to the commercial transporter: 
    (1) the type of infectious waste that the commercial 
transporter handles; 
    (2) the transportation procedures for the infectious waste 
that will be followed; 
    (3) the disposal facilities that will be used for the 
infectious waste; 
    (4) the steps that will be taken to minimize the exposure 
of employees to infectious agents throughout the process of 
transporting and disposing of infectious waste; and 
    (5) the name of the individual responsible for the 
transportation and management of the infectious waste.  
    (c) The management plan must be kept at the commercial 
transporter's principal place of business.  
    (d) Management plans must be accompanied by a statement of 
the quantity of infectious waste transported during the previous 
two-year period.  Quantities may shall be reported by weight, 
volume, or number and capacity of containers in gallons or 
pounds.  
    (e) A management plan must be updated and resubmitted at 
least once every two years. 
    (f) The commissioner shall review the plans and may require 
a plan to be modified within 180 days after the plan is 
submitted if the commissioner determines that the plan is not 
consistent with state or federal law or that the plan is not 
adequate to minimize exposure of persons to the waste. 
    Sec. 8.  [MEDICAL WASTE TASK FORCE.] 
    (a) The commissioner of health shall appoint a medical 
waste task force to include representatives of the pollution 
control agency, the department of health, the office of waste 
management, representatives of local government units, citizens 
groups, environmental organizations, organized labor, the 
academic community, medical waste generators, and persons in the 
business of managing medical waste.  Members of the task force 
shall serve without compensation. 
    (b) The medical waste task force shall: 
    (1) estimate the quantity and composition of medical waste 
currently generated in the state; 
    (2) assess current infectious waste decontamination 
capacity in the state; 
    (3) design a state policy that focuses on alternatives to 
landfilling and incineration as the primary means of infectious 
waste disposal according to the order of preference in Minnesota 
Statutes, section 115A.02, paragraph (b); and 
    (4) submit, by September 1, 1992, a medical waste 
management strategy report to the legislative commission on 
waste management and to the committees on the environment and 
natural resources and health and human services of the 
legislature recommending a statewide medical waste management 
policy. 
    Sec. 9.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
    The amount appropriated from the general fund to the 
pollution control agency for hazardous waste control for fiscal 
years 1992 and 1993 by S.F. No. 1533 is reduced by $125,000.  
The complement of the pollution control agency is decreased by 
one. 
    Presented to the governor May 31, 1991 
    Signed by the governor June 4, 1991, 8:32 p.m.