Safety and Environmental Protection

Posted on June 12, 2008. Filed under: CGMP | Tags: Environment, Pharmaceutical Safety |

By: Shamita Kohli, Supriya Sharma

Poona College of Pharmacy, Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune

Employees of an organization are one of the most important resource and their safety is of prime importance. All the employees must be trained in industrial safety requirements. Safety audits must be carried out at least once a year by internal experts or outside agencies. The deficiencies observed should be actively corrected.

Some areas must be kept in mind while formulating safety policy and procedures. Buildings, machinery, vehicles, equipment should be kept in good state of repair. Fire preventive measures should be in place. Depending on the nature of work, safety devices like helmets, safety glasses, masks, gloves etc. should be worn. First aid kit should be available and accessible for treatment. Qualified physician shall be present. Special attention should be given to handling of hazardous materials.

Environmental protection should be looked in carefully by pharmaceutical industries. Procedures and controls should be present to minimize the discharge of hazardous substances to the environment. Methods should be adopted to render the waste materials harmless to the environment. Procedures should be there to control the generation, transportation, storage, treatment or disposal of hazardous waste. It is advisable to re-use, recycle or inactivate the hazardous waste materials. Emergency procedures to minimise hazards associated with discharges to the environment should be developed. The capabilities of vendor suppliers and contract acceptors should also be evaluated from an environmental point of view. Monitoring programmes should be developed to determine that compliance with legal and in house specifications are maintained. Procedures should be developed for the operation and maintenance of pollution control and monitoring equipment and should include preventive maintenance and training programmes. Records should be retained in accordance with legal requirements of the country and in-house requirement. The integrity of the underground storage tanks and associated piping and equipment should be routinely verified. The preferred strategy for all waste management is reduction of waste at source.