What must a health care facility do if it does not receive a signed shipping document within 60 days?

• A. Reship the waste immediately
• B. Notify the EPA
• C. Take no action
• D. Contact the generator

Answer: (B)

The main concept is escalation when a hazardous waste manifest isn’t signed and returned in time. The shipping document (the hazardous waste manifest) must be signed by the receiving facility and returned to the generator within a set timeframe. If you haven’t received a signed copy within 60 days, you must notify the EPA. This step starts the official compliance process and helps ensure the waste has been properly tracked and disposed of, even though the signing partner didn’t complete the requirement.

Reshipping the waste isn’t the right move because the problem is documentation, not routing. Taking no action isn’t acceptable because regulators require a formal update when a manifest isn’t signed within the window. Contacting the generator isn’t the mandated action at this stage; the protocol is to escalate to the EPA to document and address the unmanifested waste.