Hazardous or toxic waste destruction or containment – Containment – Solidification – vitrification – or cementation
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-22
2001-09-04
Bagnell, David (Department: 3673)
Hazardous or toxic waste destruction or containment
Containment
Solidification, vitrification, or cementation
C220S908000, C206S366000, C588S900000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283909
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to handling of medical products and particularly relates to a container for supplying medical products such as syringes and disposing of waste medical materials such as used syringes and needles.
BACKGROUND
Disposal of medical waste material is an ever-present and on-going problem for medical practitioners and facilities such as hospitals and doctors' offices. Typically, medical waste material such as used syringes with projecting, sometimes exposed needles, swabs, bandages, gauze, gloves and the like are placed in what is known as a sharps container. These sharps containers allow disposal of dangerous material such as used needles but additionally prevent retrieval of same by a restrictive opening used for depositing the contaminated materials. The sharps container is typically formed of a plastic, metal or sometimes a corrugated fiberboard material having the restricted opening for receiving the waste material. Use of fiberboard sharps containers is a cost-effective solution to the problem of medical waste disposal because the cost of fiberboard containers is very substantially less than the cost of metal or plastic-type containers and fiberboard containers are substantially equally effective.
While transmission of diseases such as hepatitis or HIV is not solely limited to handling and disposal of medical waste material, substantial disease transmission to medical, as well as non-medical, for example, housekeeping personnel, can and does occur during usage and improper disposal or handling of needles or sharps containers. For example, housekeeping personnel, untrained, or even when trained, in handling medical waste, may inadvertently incur a needlestick injury while attempting to discard used syringes which have not otherwise been properly disposed. Also, the supply of disposable medical products in containers such as boxes which are discarded once the products are removed and the provision of additional sharps containers for disposal of the used medical products results in the use of two or more containers for handling essentially the same product. Consequently, there is a demonstrated need for a single container which will provide both functions, supply of product and disposal after use.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a container having a plurality of walls including side and bottom walls defining a container body and a cover which can be selectively secured to close the container when the container is used for disposal of medical waste products. The container body is preferably formed of fiberboard, i.e., corrugated cardboard material, and includes at least one either interior or exterior waterproof liner along the sides and bottom of the container body. The cover, however, is preferably formed of a rigid transparent or semi-transparent plastic material whereby the contents of the container body can be viewed through the cover.
In one aspect of the present invention, the container body and cover may comprise the container in which the disposable medical products are supplied for use. For example, the container may be filled and shipped with disposable syringes enclosed within packages providing internal syringe sterility as usual. Thus, the cover may be suitably secured to the container body during shipping and handling until such time as the products therein are ready for use. The products can then be emptied from the container whereby the container can be transformed into a sharps container. Alternatively, the medical products may be supplied from the container with another previously supplied, but empty, container serving as a sharps container.
To transform the supply container into a sharps container, the cover in one aspect of the present invention has an articulated pivoted lid which normally closes an opening in the cover when used as part of a container for supplying medical products. The lid also includes a chute or ramp inclined from one edge of the opening into the interior of the container. The chute or ramp can be rigidly secured in its inclined position or displaced from the plane of the cover into an inclined position after the lid has been pivoted to define the access opening through the cover onto the ramp. The lid is articulated such that the extent of the opening between the free edge of the lid and the margin of the opening in the cover, i.e., the container entry slot, is limited to prevent a user from inserting his hand through that opening and into the sharps container. The chute or ramp may further limit access if retrieval is attempted. With the lid pivoted outwardly and the ramp in position, the cover can be secured to the container body, preferably by bonding. For example, the container may have flanges directed inwardly from its side and end walls and have a permanent adhesive on the outer surface of the flanges covered by a release paper. The upper end edges of the sides forming part of the flanges provide sufficient resistance to secure the cover to the container body, the adhesively covered flanges providing for additional securement. By removing the release paper and adhering the cover to the flanges, the cover may be permanently attached to the container body. The sharps container is thus ready for use and medical waste material can be inserted through the opening onto the ramp or chute for disposition within the container body. With the container body being lined, either exteriorly or interiorly or both, with a waterproof material in addition to a puncture-resistant double layer of corrugated fiberboard, the waste material including, for example, syringes with exposed needles, may be disposed out of harm's way. When the container is filled to capacity, for example, three-quarters full, the articulated lid is pivoted to close the opening. Tabs provided on the lid lock the lid in place on the cover. The sharps container may then be disposed of in the normal fashion, i.e., the bottom end and sides being leakproof and puncture-resistant and the top being irreversibly closable.
In another form of the present invention, the lid and ramp cooperate one with the other such that any attempt to increase the size of the entry opening into the container by further pivoting the lid outwardly relative to the cover causes the ramp or chute to close the entry opening in the cover. To accomplish this, an arm depends from opposite sides of the lid adjacent its pivot axis and engages below the free end of the ramp. As the lid is pivoted into a further open position, the ends of the arms raise the ramp to a position closing the opening. In this manner, an individual's hands cannot be disposed through the entry opening into the sharps container.
In a further form of the present invention, the cover of the supplied container is modified to a configuration for use with the hood and pivoted shelf arrangement of a standard sharps container, the latter, in turn, being modified for use with the cover hereof. Standard sharps containers have a cover with an integral arcuate hood defining an entry opening into the container. Disposed in that entry opening is a pivoted shelf. When medical waste material is disposed on the shelf, the shelf pivots in a direction to drop the material into the container. These hood and pivoted shelf arrangements typically integrated into the covers of the sharps containers are expensive to manufacture and are disposed of each time with the container when the container becomes full of medical waste material. In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a modified configuration of a hood and pivoted shelf arrangement is releasably or permanently secured to the cover of the medical supply container when adapted as a sharps container. Particularly, the cover is provided with an opening having a sliding articulated or non-articulated door movable between open and closed positions. Rails are formed along either the underside or topside of the cover, enabling sliding movement of the door betwee
Bagnell David
Lagman Frederick L.
Nixon & Vanderhye
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