Rationality in handling biomedical waste: a study on the sanitary workers from a tertiary care hospital in West Bengal

Abstract

Background: Health-care waste contains potentially harmful microorganisms, which can infect hospital patients, health workers and the general public. The knowledge and practices of sanitary workers needs special attention as these individuals are responsible for managing biomedical waste (BMW) from the point of collection to the point of disposal. The objective was to study the socio-demographic and service profile of the study population and assess their knowledge and practices on Biomedical Waste Management. Methods: A predesigned, pretested and validated proforma was used for data collection from 120 sanitary workers in the hospital. An observation checklist was used to assess their practices. Results: Most of the sanitary workers received no formal training before or after joining service (71.67%). Less than 60% of the sanitary workers knew about treatment of waste in hospital, diseases through waste and immunisation. 40.84% of them did not label the bags prior to waste collection and only 30% transported segregated waste in separate trollies. Conclusions: There is a need for enforcement of strict guidelines and measures to improve work safety in hazardous waste collection, transport and handling. Training program on BMW management should be designed to bridge the knowledge attitude and practice gap of sanitary workers.