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More than nine in 10 hospitals polled recognize the hazards associated with mercury use and have taken steps to reduce or eliminate mercury-containing devices, according to a survey released by the Chicago-based American Hospital Association and Washington, DC-based Hospitals for a Healthy Environment.

Hospitals reduce mercury, overall waste

November 1, 2005

Hospitals reduce mercury, overall waste

More than nine in 10 hospitals polled recognize the hazards associated with mercury use and have taken steps to reduce or eliminate mercury-containing devices, according to a survey released by the Chicago-based American Hospital Association and Washington, DC-based Hospitals for a Healthy Environment.

The survey found 72% of hospitals have inventoried, labeled, or replaced all mercury-containing devices, and 80% have adopted policies, plans, or programs to reduce overall waste as part of the hospital field’s commitment to a 1998 accord with the Environmental Protection Agency. Under the agreement, the AHA and its American Society for Healthcare Environmental Services and American Society for Healthcare Engineering set goals to virtually eliminate mercury-containing waste from hospitals by 2005 and cut overall hospital waste in half by 2010.