(a) “Biohazard bag” means a disposable film bag used to contain medical waste. Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 117605, the film bags that are used to line the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT)-approved shipping containers for transport from the generator’s facility onto roadways and into commerce to a treatment and disposal facility shall be marked and certified by the manufacturer as having passed the tests prescribed for tear resistance in the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) D1922, “Standard Test Method for Propagation Tear Resistance of Plastic Film and Thin Sheeting by Pendulum Method” and for impact resistance in ASTM D1709, “Standard Test Methods for Impact Resistance of Plastic Film by the Free-Falling Dart Method,” as those documents were published on January 1, 2014. The film bag shall meet an impact resistance of 165 grams and a tearing resistance of 480 grams in both parallel and perpendicular planes with respect to the length of the bag.
(b) The biohazard bag that is used to collect medical waste within a facility shall be manufacturer certified to meet the ASTM D1709 dart drop test, provided that when the bag is prepared for transport offsite, it is placed into a USDOT-approved container lined with a biohazard bag that is ASTM D1709 and ASTM D1922 certified.
(c) The color of the bag shall be red, except when yellow bags are used to further segregate trace chemotherapy waste and white bags are used to further segregate pathology waste. The biohazard bag shall be marked with the international biohazard symbol and may be labeled by reference as authorized by the USDOT.
(Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 352, Sec. 1. (SB 225) Effective September 28, 2015.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018