They'll create new jobs.... Decom is a Vol. 15, No. 23 Wednesday, June 5, 1985 40 Pages responsible firm spokesman says Free Press Staff Photo WPHworkers protest slow talks Employees of the Whitby Psychiatric Hospital held an Information picket last Thursday afternoon to protest the protracting of negotiations between their union - the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (O.P.S.E.U.) - and the provincial government. The 700 or so members of O.P.S.E.U. Local 331 - lîke their counterparts in other psychiatric facilities across the province - have been without a contract since Dec. 31. According to Local 331 president Joan Gates, the major issues in the dispute are wages, staffing levels, job security and the contracting out of such jobs as housekeeping and on-site security services. Gates also said that the nurses are seeking wage parity with their counterparts working in general hospitals while the support staff are seeking to recover some of the wages promised them in a con- tract signed before the government announced its restraint program in 1983. For more details on this story, see page 3. Despite the best effor- ts of both company and government officials to persuade them other- wise, Whitby residents still appear to be skep- tical about a proposal to locate a biomedical waste transfer station on Sunray St. Representatives of both Decom Meçical Waste Transportation Systems Inc. and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment appeared before Whitby Town Council's ad- ministrative committee Monday night to explain and defend their proposal. Decom wants to build a 12,000 square foot facility in the industrial area off Consumers Dr. to transfer medical waste collected from hospitals, veterinary clinics, laboratories and doctors' offices from collection vehicles to tractor trailers who will then haul the waste to the company's in- cineration facility in Gatineau, Quebec. Ivan Flaschner, a director of Decom, his company is "a respon- sible, Canadian owned, medical waste com- pany" that got into the business because it needed "a safe, reliable disposal of its own medical waste." Decom, he added, is a subsidiary of Argyro Entreprises Ltd. which also owns Kipling Medical Laboratories, one of the largest chains of medical laboratories in Canada. Flaschner said that his company has all of the- needed qualified people on its staff to en- sure the safe disposal of medical waste such as bandages, syringes, specimen cups, blood and urine samples used in medical testing and other human tissue such as amputated limbs. The items his com- pany will be hauling "are already present right here in Whiby," Flaschner said, "And we will not be handling any hazardous or toxic chemicals. We haven't even asked to handle those things in our license." If his application is approved, the Whitby facility will be part of "the first completely in- tegrated system in Canada." Flaschner noted that there is currently no company in Canada that not only collects but disposes of medical waste. "Any waste we can pick-up, we can dispose of," he said. He also went to great lengths to ensure both the committee and the residents present at the meeting that all medical waste collected and hauled by his firm will be placed in special leak-proof plastic con- tainers. These con- tainers, he maintains. will not be permanentlv stored at Whitby. In- stead they will be tran- sferred directly from the collection vehicle to the tractor trailer. Furthermore, only the collection vehicles will be cleaned in Whitby. The containers and the tractor trailers will be cleaned and disinfected at the company's Gatineau facility. Flaschner also poin- ted out that the transfer station will bring many economie benefits to the community. New jobs will be created at the station itself and many local firms will benefit from subcontracting. Under questioning from Dennis Fox, Flaschner assured the committee that - ail Decom employees will be properly trained and will have to follow strict rules about cleanliness. "Ail of our employees will be made aware of their responsibilities to the community and themselves," he said adding that no employee will be able to leave the building until he or she has passed through a washroom and shower area where they will have to either put on work clothers or their street wear. Lending support to the Decom presentation was a senior official of the Ministry of the En- vironment who said that there is a pressing need for this type of facility in the greater Toronto area. "The need is really there," he said adding, "There is no such station in Ontario." The spokesman said that a fully integrated system such as the one Decom is -proposing would give the best possible method of han- dling medicalwaste. He also sees no reason why business people in Ontario shouldn't be carrying on this type of business. "Why not do it here in Ontario?" he said, "Let's do it right, but do it here." The ministry official also attempted to assure the committee that the site would be regularly inspected by local Medical Officer of Health officials. However, under questioning from the public, he admitted he didn't know how frequently those inspec- tions would take place. Monday night's meeting was simply to receive public input on the proposal. The com- mittee has ordered planning director Bob Short to bring in a report in two weeks giving specific recom- mendations on the proposal for their con- sideration. The committee has also asked that the Medical Officer of Health be present at that meeting to make her views known on the proposal. ...Umm