25 Tex. Admin. Code § 1.132 - Definitions
The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter, shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Anatomical
remains--The remains of a human body donated for the purposes of teaching or
research to a medical school, a teaching hospital, or a medical research
facility, after the completion of the activities for which the body was
donated.
(2) Animal waste--Animal
waste includes:
(A) carcasses of animals
intentionally exposed to pathogens;
(B) body parts of animals intentionally
exposed to pathogens;
(C) whole
bulk blood and blood products, serum, plasma, and other blood components from
animals intentionally exposed to pathogens; and
(D) bedding of animals intentionally exposed
to pathogens.
(3)
Approved alternate treatment process--A process for waste treatment which has
been approved by the department in accordance with §
1.135 of this title (relating to
Performance Standards for Commercially-Available Alternate Treatment
Technologies for Special Waste from Health Care-Related Facilities).
(4) Biological
indicators--Commercially-available microorganisms (e.g., United States Food and
Drug Administration-approved strips or vials of Bacillus species endospores)
which can be used to verify the performance of waste treatment equipment and/or
processes.
(5) Blood and blood
products--All waste bulk human blood, serum, plasma, and other blood
components.
(6) Body fluids--Those
free-flowing body substances other than blood, plasma, or serum identified
under universal precautions as recommended by the United States Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, and includes, but are not limited to:
(A) semen;
(B) vaginal secretions;
(C) any body fluid containing visible
blood;
(D) saliva in dental
settings;
(E) amniotic
fluid;
(F) cerebrospinal
fluid;
(G) peritoneal
fluid;
(H) pleural fluid;
(I) pericardial fluid; and
(J) synovial fluid.
(7) Bulk--A containerized, aggregate volume
of 100 milliliters (mL) or more.
(8) Bulk human blood, bulk human blood
products, and bulk human body fluids--All free-flowing waste: human blood;
serum; plasma; other blood components; and body fluids; including disposable
items saturated with blood or body fluids.
(9) Burial--The act of depositing a
pathological waste in a grave, a crypt, vault, or tomb, or at sea.
(10) Burial park--A tract of land that is
used or intended to be used for the interment of pathological waste in
graves.
(11) Cemetery--A tract of
land that is used or intended to be used for the permanent interment of
pathological waste, and includes:
(A) a
burial park for earth interments;
(B) a mausoleum for crypt or vault
interments;
(C) a columbarium for
cinerary interments; or
(D) a
combination of one or more thereof.
(12) Challenge waste load--A surrogate waste
load assembled for use during waste treatment protocols to evaluate the
efficacy of microbial inactivation processes. The composition of the challenge
waste load will vary depending on the technology being evaluated.
(13) Chemical disinfection--The use of a
chemical agent to reduce significantly the numbers of active microorganisms,
but not necessarily their endospores, from the surfaces of inanimate
objects.
(14) Chlorine
disinfection/maceration--The process of shredding waste in the presence of a
chlorine solution under negative pressure.
(15) Columbarium--A structure or room or
other space in a building or structure of most durable and lasting fireproof
construction; or a plot of earth, containing niches, used, or intended to be
used, to contain cremated pathological waste.
(16) Contagious--Capable of transmission from
human or animal to human.
(17)
Contaminated--The presence or the reasonably anticipated presence of blood or
those body fluids as defined elsewhere in this section.
(18) Cremation--The irreversible process of
reducing tissue or remains to ashes or bone fragments through extreme heat and
evaporation. Under this subchapter, this term includes the process of
incineration.
(19) Crematory--A
building or structure containing one or more furnaces used, or intended to be
used, for the reduction (by burning) of pathological waste to cremated
remains.
(20) Crypt or vault--The
chamber in a mausoleum of sufficient size to inter the uncremated pathological
waste.
(21) Department--The Texas
Department of State Health Services.
(22) Deposition in a sanitary
landfill--Deposition in a sanitary landfill in accordance with 30 TAC Chapter
330.
(23) Discharge to sanitary
sewer system--A discharge or flushing of waste into a sanitary sewer system
which is done in accordance with provisions of local sewage discharge
ordinances.
(24) Disinfection--A
somewhat less lethal process compared to sterilization which destroys or
inactivates viruses, fungi, and bacteria (but not necessarily their endospores)
on inanimate surfaces.
(25)
Embryonic and Fetal Tissue Remains--An embryo, a fetus, body parts, or organs
from a pregnancy that terminates in the death of the embryo or fetus and for
which the issuance of a fetal death certificate is not required by state law.
The term does not include the umbilical cord, placenta, gestational sac, blood,
or body fluids.
(26)
Encapsulation--The treatment of waste using materials which, when fully
reacted, will encase such waste in a solid protective matrix.
(27) Entombment--The permanent interment of
pathological waste in a crypt or vault.
(28) Executive Commissioner--The Executive
Commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission.
(29) Grave--A space of ground in a burial
park that is used, or intended to be used for the permanent interment in the
ground of pathological waste.
(30)
Grinding--That physical process which pulverizes materials, thereby rendering
them as unrecognizable, and for sharps, reduces the potential for the material
to cause injuries such as puncture wounds.
(31) Immersed--A process in which waste is
submerged fully into a liquid chemical agent in a container, or that a
sufficient volume of liquid chemical agent is poured over a containerized
waste, such that the liquid completely surrounds and covers the waste item(s)
in the container.
(32)
Incineration--That process of burning special waste from health care-related
facilities in an incinerator as defined in 30 TAC Chapter 101 under conditions
in conformance with standards prescribed in 30 TAC Chapter 111 by the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality.
(33) Interment--The disposition of
pathological waste using the process of cremation, entombment, burial, or
placement in a niche or by using the process of cremation followed by placement
of the ashes in a niche, grave, or scattering of ashes as authorized by law,
unless prohibited by this subchapter.
(34) Log10--Logarithm
to the base ten.
(35)
Log10 reduction--A mathematically defined unit used in
reference to level or degree of microbial inactivation. A 4
log10 reduction represents a 99.99% reduction in the
numbers of active microorganisms, while a 6 log10
reduction represents a 99.9999% reduction in the numbers of active
microorganisms.
(36) Mausoleum--A
structure or building of most durable and lasting fireproof construction used,
or intended to be used, for the entombment pathological waste.
(37) Microbial inactivation--Inactivation of
vegetative bacteria, fungi, lipophilic/hydrophilic viruses, parasites, and
mycobacteria at a 6 log10 reduction or greater; and
inactivation of Bacillus subtilis endospores or Bacillus stearothermophilus
endospores at a 4 log10 reduction or greater.
(38) Microbiological waste--Microbiological
waste includes:
(A) discarded cultures and
stocks of infectious agents and associated biologicals;
(B) discarded cultures of specimens from
medical, pathological, pharmaceutical, research, clinical, commercial, and
industrial laboratories;
(C)
discarded live and attenuated vaccines, but excluding the empty containers
thereof;
(D) discarded, used
disposable culture dishes; and
(E)
discarded, used disposable devices used to transfer, inoculate or mix
cultures.
(39) Moist
heat disinfection--The subjection of:
(A)
internally shredded waste to moist heat, assisted by microwave radiation under
those conditions which effect disinfection; or
(B) unshredded waste in sealed containers to
moist heat, assisted by low-frequency radiowaves under those conditions which
effect disinfection, followed by shredding of the waste to the extent that the
identity of the waste is unrecognizable.
(40) Niche--A recess or space in a
columbarium used, or intended to be used, for the permanent interment of the
cremated remains of pathological waste.
(41) Parametric controls--Measurable
standards of equipment operation appropriate to the treatment equipment
including, but not limited to pressure, cycle time, temperature, irradiation
dosage, pH, chemical concentrations, or feed rates.
(42) Pathological waste--Pathological waste
excludes embryonic and fetal tissue remains. Pathological waste includes but is
not limited to:
(A) human materials removed
during surgery, labor and delivery, autopsy, embalming, or biopsy, including:
(i) body parts;
(ii) tissues;
(iii) organs; and
(iv) bulk blood and body fluids;
(B) laboratory specimens of blood
and tissue after completion of laboratory examination; and
(C) anatomical remains.
(43) Saturated--Thoroughly wet such that
liquid or fluid flows freely from an item or surface without
compression.
(44) Sharps--Sharps
include, but are not limited to the following materials:
(A) when contaminated:
(i) hypodermic needles;
(ii) hypodermic syringes with attached
needles;
(iii) scalpel
blades;
(iv) razor blades,
disposable razors, and disposable scissors used in surgery, labor and delivery,
or other medical procedures;
(v)
intravenous stylets and rigid introducers (e.g., J wires);
(vi) glass pasteur pipettes, glass pipettes,
specimen tubes, blood culture bottles, and microscope slides;
(vii) broken glass from laboratories;
and
(viii) tattoo needles,
acupuncture needles, and electrolysis needles;
(B) regardless of contamination:
(i) hypodermic needles; and
(ii) hypodermic syringes with attached
needles.
(45)
Shredding--That physical process which cuts, slices, or tears materials into
small pieces.
(46) Special waste
from health care-related facilities--A solid waste which if improperly treated
or handled may serve to transmit an infectious disease(s) and which is
comprised of the following:
(A) animal
waste;
(B) bulk blood, bulk human
blood products, and bulk human body fluids;
(C) microbiological waste;
(D) pathological waste; and
(E) sharps.
(47) Steam disinfection--The act of
subjecting waste to steam under pressure under those conditions which effect
disinfection. This was previously called steam sterilization.
(48) Thermal inactivation--The act of
subjecting waste to dry heat under those conditions which effect
disinfection.
(49)
Unrecognizable--The original appearance of the waste item has been altered such
that neither the waste nor its source can be identified.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.