John Weir – Healthcare Cleaning Professional

When an agency inspector comes to inspect your hazardous waste storage area, he looks for things like waste manifests, reports, labels, and plans. Why? Because it is easy to find violations in these areas – either you have filled them out properly or you have not. It is straightforward.

The video below is from an inspector at the California Department of Toxic Substances (DTSC). Listen to what the DTSC inspector has to say about what he looks for in your hazardous waste labels.

Here is a short video from California’s DTSC on the training requirements for hazardous waste generators:

One of the four characteristics of a hazardous waste is “reactivity”. The other three are ignitability, toxicity and corrosivity and these three characteristics are pretty easy to define by measuring the flash point, concentration and pH respectively. Reactivity is a bit harder (less objective) to determine.

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has a short video clip on how to determine reactivity. In general, if something is going to go “boom”, it is likely to be reactive. Or if the MSDS states that a material is reactive with water or unstable, the waste that is derived from that material is likely to be a reactive waste. Enjoy the video.