Safety

Medical center signs first-of-its-kind agreement with the EPA

Hospital Safety Connection, September 9, 2009

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A hospital on Long Island has become the first one in the nation to sign an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce the facility’s environmental impact through a series of strategies.
 
Stony Brook (NY) University Medical Center will track the results of these efforts and submit reports to EPA every six months, according to the agency.
 
The following are among the steps Stony Brook intends to take, according to the EPA:
  • Conduct a campus-wide energy audit with the goal of increasing energy efficiency
  • Recycle 180 tons of cardboard and 5 tons of bottles and cans each year
  • Where appropriate, consider the use of coal combustion products in place of cement in future construction projects as a way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and concrete costs
  • Utilize construction equipment that emits cleaner fuel exhaust
  • Install low-flow toilets and faucets in new construction and renovations
  • Reduce sterile blue wrap by switching to reusable rigid containers for packaging, transporting, and storing medical instruments
  • Eliminate the use of mercury and plastics containing PVC/DEHP
  • Recycle computer components
  • Continue reprocessing certain medical equipment and utilizing reusable containers for disposed needles
The hospital will also look at installing solar panels, composting kitchen scraps, and using rainwater to irrigate its landscaping under a new agreement, reported Newsday of Melville, NY.
 
The EPA will not fund the strategies listed in the agreement, which is nonbinding, according to Newsday.
 



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