South Carolina Code of Regulations
Chapter 61 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
Subchapter 61-105 - Infectious Waste Management Regulations
Section 61-105.D - Definitions

(a) "Act" means the S. C. Infectious Waste Management Act, Act Number 134 of 1989, Chapter 93 of Title 44 of the Code of Laws of 1976, as amended.

(b) "Board" means the South Carolina Board of Health and Environmental Control which is charged with the responsibility for implementation of the Infectious Waste Management Act.

(c) "Certification" means a statement of professional opinion based upon knowledge and belief.

(d) "CFR" means the Code of Federal Regulations.

(e) "Closure" means the point in time at which facility owners or operators discontinue operation by ceasing to accept, treat, store, or dispose of infectious waste.

(f) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Department or his authorized agent.

(g) "Container" means any portable device in which a material is stored, transported, treated, disposed of, or otherwise managed.

(h) "Containment" means the packaging of infectious waste or the containers in which infectious waste is placed.

(i) "Contingency Plan" means a document setting out an organized, planned and coordinated course of action to be followed in case of a fire, explosion, or release of infectious waste or infectious waste constituents , or interruption of normal procedures of infectious waste management.

(j) "Department" means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, including personnel of the Department authorized by the Board to act on behalf of the Department or Board.

(k) "Destination facility" means an infectious waste treatment facility which has received a permit from the Department in accordance with this regulation or an appropriate out-of-state facility and which is the facility designated by the generator to which waste is to be transported.

(l) "Discharge" or "infectious waste discharge" means the accidental or intentional spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, or dumping of infectious waste into or onto any land or waters of the State, including groundwater.

(m) "Dispose" means to discharge, deposit, inject, dump, spill, leak, or place any waste into or on any land or water, including groundwater, so that the substance may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including groundwater.

(n) "EPA" means the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.

(o) "EPA identification number" means the EPA assigned Medical Waste Identification Number.

(p) "Existing facility" means a facility which was in operation under permits issued by the Department on June 8, 1989.

(q) "Expand" means an increase in the capacity of the facility or an increase in the quantity of infectious waste received by a facility that exceeds a permit condition.

(r) "Facility" means a location or site within which infectious waste is treated, stored, and/or disposed of.

(s) "Final closure" means the closure of all infectious waste management units at the facility in accordance with all applicable closure requirements so that infectious waste management activities are no longer conducted at the facility.

(t) "Free liquids" means liquids which separate readily from the portion of a waste under ambient temperature and pressure.

(u) "Generator" means the person producing infectious waste except waste produced in a private residence.

(v) "Generator facility" means a facility that treats infectious waste that is owned or operated by a combination or association of generators, a nonprofit professional association representing generators or a nonprofit corporation controlled by generators, nonprofit foundation of hospitals or nonprofit corporations wholly owned by hospitals, if the waste is generated in this State and treatment is provided on a nonprofit basis.

(w) "Generator Registration Status" means classification of a facility that generates regulated infectious waste, based on the largest amount documented by weight in any one calendar month of the last 12 (twelve) consecutive calendar months.

(x) "Hazardous waste" means a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste as defined in R.61-79.261.3 of the S. C. Hazardous Waste Management Regulations.

(y) "Infectious waste" or "waste" means a material as defined in Section E of this regulation.

(z) "Infectious waste management" means the systematic control of the collection, source separation, storage, transportation, treatment, and disposal of infectious waste.

(aa) "Intermediate handling facility" means any transportation related facility including loading docks, parking areas, storage areas and other similar areas where shipments of infectious waste are held and/or handled for storage during the normal course of transportation and may be off loaded and on loaded.

(bb) "Manifest" means the shipping document authorized and signed by the generator which contains the information required by this regulation.

(cc) "Offsite" means not onsite.

(dd) "Onsite" means the same or geographically contiguous property which may be divided by public or private right-of-way provided the entrance and exit between the properties is at a crossroads intersection and access is by crossing as opposed to going along the right-of-way.

(ee) "Person" means an individual, partnership, co-partnership, cooperative, firm, company, public or private corporation, political subdivision, agency of this State, county, or local government, trust, estate, joint structure company, or any other legal entity or its legal representative, agent, or assigns.

(ff) "Products of conception" means fetal tissues and embryonic tissues resulting from implantation in the uterus.

(gg) "Pump Event" means any action where treatment residue is removed from a tank holding treatment residue.

(hh) "Radioactive material" means any and all equipment or materials which are radioactive or have radioactive contamination and which are required pursuant to any governing laws, regulations or licenses to be disposed of or stored as radioactive material.

(ii) "Release" means to set free from restraint or confinement.

(jj) "Secured area" means an area which is fenced with a locking gate or which is regularly patrolled by security personnel which prevents access by the general public. An area which has controlled access and barriers to prevent exposure of the general public.

(kk) "Site" means contiguous land, structures, and other appurtenances and improvements on the land used for generating, treating, storing, transferring or disposing of regulated infectious waste with the same ownership.

(ll) "Small quantity generator" means any in-state generator that produces less than fifty (50) pounds of infectious waste per calendar month.

(mm) "Solid waste" means any garbage, refuse, or sludge from a waste treatment facility, water supply plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agriculture operations, and from community activities. This term does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to NPDES permits under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, or the Pollution Control Act of South Carolina, as amended, or source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. Also excluded from this definition are application of fertilizer and animal manure during normal agricultural operations or refuse as defined and regulated pursuant to the South Carolina Mining Act, including processed mineral waste, which will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment.

(nn) "State" means the State of South Carolina.

(oo) "Storage" means the actual or intended holding of infectious wastes, either on a temporary basis or for a period of time, in a manner as not to constitute disposing of the wastes.

(pp) "Supersaturated" means the condition when any absorbent material contains enough fluid so that it freely drips that fluid or if lightly squeezed, that fluid would drip from it.

(qq) "Transfer facility" means any transportation related facility where shipments of infectious waste are held during the normal course of transportation, but are not off loaded or on loaded into fixed storage areas.

(rr) "Transport" means the movement of infectious waste from the generation site to a treatment facility or site for intermediate storage and/or disposal.

(ss) "Transporter" means a person engaged in the offsite transportation of infectious waste by air, rail, highway, or water.

(tt) "Transport vehicle" means a method used for the transportation of cargo by any mode. Each cargo-carrying body (trailer, railroad freight car, etc.) is a separate transport vehicle.

(uu) "Treatment" means a method, technique, or process designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of infectious waste so as to sufficiently reduce or eliminate the infectious nature of the waste.

(vv) "Treatment facility" means a facility which treats infectious waste to sufficiently reduce or eliminate the infectious nature of the waste.

(ww) "Treatment residue" means the solid or liquid part that remains after infectious waste has been treated to sufficiently reduce or eliminate the infectious nature of the waste.

(xx) "Universal biohazard symbol" means the symbol design that conforms to the design shown in the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Standards .