Integrated Environmental Systems (IES)
Pays $925,000 Fine

Record fine for delaying medical-waste treatment

Janine DeFao / SF Chronicle 1nov01

Oakland -- In the largest settlement of its kind in California, an East Oakland medical waste incinerator has agreed to pay nearly $1 million in fines for leaving hundreds of barrels of waste untreated last summer.

Integrated Environmental Systems, the state's only remaining commercial medical waste incinerator, has paid $925,000 in a settlement with the California Department of Health Services.

The amount is the most the state has collected in a medical waste case, said Darice Bailey, chief of the department's waste management section. A Southern California doctor previously was fined $500,000 for improperly disposing of medical waste, but the money was never collected because he died, she said.

State officials shut down the High Street incinerator for a month in June after inspectors discovered 1,500 barrels that were more than a week old. State law mandates that medical waste -- including syringes, gauze and other discarded materials -- must be treated within a week of its receipt. Officials said the backlog at Integrated Environmental Systems created no public health threat.

"There's a very big reason for (Integrated Environmental Systems) not to repeat their offense. It's quite costly," Bailey said, adding that the company is in compliance and "doing great now."

"Obviously, it's a significant fine," said company spokesman Jay Silverberg.

"From the beginning, the company has tried to step up and take responsibility.

The plant has been fully operating in compliance for several months now."

The plant has been under fire from environmental and community groups that claim it emits deadly dioxin and other toxic substances into the air.