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Shipping of Regulated Medical Waste

Medical waste training is required for anyone packaging wastes and signing manifests for the medical waste contractor to transport off-site. Renewal of the training is required every three years.

The Biosafety Office provides both in-person and online training.

Prior to packaging, shipping, or signing for regulated medical waste, all personnel involved are required to contact the Biosafety Office for either online or in-person training. Following a review of the material, each person is required to complete a short quiz and will receive a certificate upon successful completion via email. EHS Lab Safety Services provide in-person refresher training upon request. Contact EHS Lab Safety Services at 865-974-5084 or by email to utbiosafety@utk.edu to schedule training.

Training is mandatory prior to shipping regulated medical waste and refresher training is required every 3 years after initial training in order to stay up to date with shipping regulations.

While most biohazardous waste is treated onsite and disposed of through normal waste streams, certain locations contract to a waste disposal service to remove Regulated Medical Wastes (RMW). These wastes must be properly packaged and signed for upon removal by approved personnel. While it seems simple enough, signing a waste pick-up manifest binds the signee as the responsible party in the event of a mishap. Because of this, we ask that anyone who will be dealing with the pick-up of RMWs review the following training module.