Clinical

Clinical waste can contain a mix of different types of materials, including contaminated and hazardous waste, biological waste, sharps such as needles, and so on.

You have a responsibility as a clinical waste management facility to meet a certain standard of safety and preparedness, which is where the Certificate of Technical Competence (COTC) becomes significant.

Under most operating permits, you must have a Technically Competent Manager (TCM) with a relevant COTC on-site in person for at least 20% of the time your facility is operational.

In the absence of such an individual, or if you need more TCM hours than you have available from your in-house personnel, Recycling Training Services can offer COTC cover for clinical waste facilities.

To find out more about this, read on or get in touch with us via our Contact Us form or on 07710 200 333.

TCM cover for clinical waste facilities

TCM cover can provide you with in-person observations from a qualified individual during times when you lack the in-house capacity you need.

For example, this can include:

• Sickness and maternity COTC  cover
• Interim COTC cover while in-house personnel are retrained
• Additional COTC cover to cope with peaks in demand

In some cases, you might face a temporary need for a TCM with specific certification, for example to deal with a type of clinical waste you do not normally handle.

We can also provide COTC training services for your own personnel, so they can work towards gaining the relevant certificate to bring your TCM back in-house.

Identifying risks in clinical waste settings

A qualified TCM has a duty to proactively identify risks in clinical waste settings, so that action can be taken to mitigate those risks and avoid an incident occurring in the future.

This can include the risk of a significant fire breaking out, and we can draw up Fire Prevention Plans to help prevent the accidental ignition of combustible clinical waste.

If an incident occurs that could have been avoided – especially in the absence of sufficient TCM cover – you could be left facing a prison sentence and an unlimited fine.

This is especially in the case of an incident that causes:

• Injury or loss of life
• Significant fire damage to property
• Damage to neighbouring premises by being allowed to spread

Fire Prevention Plans are just one part of your commitment to meeting your operating permit obligations, but with our help you can meet those obligations proactively.

Ask us for help

If you’re short-staffed, growing beyond your resources or expanding into new areas, ask us for help. We welcome all enquiries and we’ll work quickly to provide you with the clinical waste COTC cover you need.

You can find us on all the usual social media platforms, where you can follow us for regular updates and to keep in touch more generally.

If you’d like to make an enquiry, please fill in our website Contact Us form and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. Or you can call us on 07710 200 333 to talk to us about what you need, and to arrange COTC cover for clinical waste facilities.