Texas Administrative Code
Title 25 - HEALTH SERVICES
Part 1 - DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES
Chapter 1 - MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
Subchapter K - DEFINITION, TREATMENT, AND DISPOSITION OF SPECIAL WASTE FROM HEALTH CARE-RELATED FACILITIES
Section 1.132 - Definitions
Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
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:
(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:
(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:
(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:
(39) Moist heat disinfection--The subjection of:
(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:
(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:
(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:
(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.
