Sharps & Medical Waste Management

Sharps Opener.jpeg

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) during procedures includes the safe management of ‘sharps’, encompasses high-level measures such as health facility design and management, protocol-based measures such as adherence to national and facility level guidelines, and individual actions by each health care provider and ancillary staff member. The health care provider is encouraged to familiarise themselves with their facility’s specific IPC protocols and reporting systems, which is outside the scope of this module.

This module describes how to segregate waste into different disposal units for safety.


These are colour coded, non-penetrable, rigid containers.

Items for sharps bin disposal

How to use sharps safely

How to use a sharps bin


Items for red bin disposal

Any items contaminated with blood and body fluids such as:

How to use red bins safely


Items for white bin disposal

General, uncontaminated waste such as: