Biomedical Waste Operating Plan guidelines from the state of Florida.

Comprehensive EPA web site with basic information, resource documents, and regulations regarding medical waste.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is the lead agency in state government for environmental management and stewardship. Very comprehensive web site with information, headline news, etc.

The Florida Department of Health regulates the identification, packaging, storage and treatment of biohazardous waste at the generating facility. There are an estimated 30,000 biomedical waste facilities in Florida. These include hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, laboratories, funeral homes, dentists, veterinarians, physicians, transporters, and storage and treatment facilities. The objective of the biomedical waste program is to protect health care workers, environmental-service staff, waste haulers, and the general public from risks associated with potentially infectious biomedical waste.

The Florida Senate web site contains the full text of Florida laws and statues. The statues which apply to medical waste in the state of Florida, including Florida include Florida Statues (FS) Chapters 381 and Chapter 403 can be found on this site.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research.

OSHA's mission is to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health. Workers in many different occupations are at risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens. First aid team members, housekeeping personnel in some settings, and nurses are examples of workers who may be at risk of exposure. In 1991, OSHA issued the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard to protect workers from this risk. In 2001, in response to the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, OSHA revised the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard 1910.1030. The revised standard clarifies the need for employers to select safer needle devices and to involve employees in identifying and choosing these devices. The updated standard also requires employers to maintain a log of injuries from contaminated sharps.

The Office of Hazardous Materials Safety (OHM) formulates, issues and revises Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) under the Federal Hazardous Materials Transportation Law. The HMR cover hazardous materials definitions and classifications, hazard communications, shipper and carrier operations, training and security requirements, and packaging and container specifications. With responsibility for compliance with the HMR, other than those regulations applicable to a single mode of transportation, OHM places emphasis on packaging manufacturers, retesters and reconditioners, and multimodal shippers of hazardous materials.

The American Dental Association is the professional association of dentists committed to the public's oral health, ethics, science, and professional advancement.

The American Medical Association speaks out on issues important to patients and the nation's health. AMA policy on such issues is decided through its democratic policy-making process, in the AMA House of Delegates.

The FDA is a team of 9,000 dedicated public health employees that includes physicians, nurses, consumer safety officers, lawyers, and scientists, with specialties ranging from biomaterials engineering to pharmacology. Decisions made by FDA affect every American every day.