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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1499463

Hospital Solid Waste Management Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections from Occupational Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens and Improve Occupational Safety

Provisionally accepted
AUGUSTO JORGE ANTONIO IBÁÑEZ-CRUZ AUGUSTO JORGE ANTONIO IBÁÑEZ-CRUZ 1,2*Alejandra Micaela Elena Vergara-Florián Alejandra Micaela Elena Vergara-Florián 1william Celestino Algoner Jorge william Celestino Algoner Jorge 1
  • 1 Technological University of Peru, Lima, Peru
  • 2 Institute of Biomedical Science, Londres, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This research focused on reducing the risk of nosocomial infections in healthcare workers exposed to bloodborne pathogens. It was carried out at the private clinic and concentrated on properly managing hospital solid waste, with special attention to occupational health and safety. 400 health workers were trained online during six sessions, addressing biosafety, conditioning, segregation, storage, collection, and transportation of solid waste.The amount of waste produced in kilograms daily was 232.76 bio-contaminated, 11.23 special, and 218.58 joint. Bio-contaminated waste included patient care, bags with human blood and blood products, surgical and anatomical-pathological waste, sharps and biological objects, pharmaceuticals, and hazardous and radioactive chemicals.Proper solid waste management, supported by adequate training, contributed to a significant decrease in the incidence of nosocomial infections: two cases were reported in August and one in September, and there was no incidence of cases from October to December. The estimation of the method used for solid waste disposal showed an acceptable degree in the stages of conditioning, segregation, primary storage, internal transport within the clinic, and central storage. In addition, the occupational health and safety of the personnel at private clinic was improved.

    Keywords: nosocomial infections, Hospital solid waste, occupational safety, Waste Management, Health training

    Received: 20 Sep 2024; Accepted: 14 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 IBÁÑEZ-CRUZ, Vergara-Florián and Algoner Jorge. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: AUGUSTO JORGE ANTONIO IBÁÑEZ-CRUZ, Technological University of Peru, Lima, Peru

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.