hardware

[redbird]

It transpires that, while the copying machines cheerfully give instructions on things like changing toner, we are not supposed to do this. Refill paper, yes. Anything beyond that, call the IT staff, who are (I hope) trained and (I am not making this up) bonded to deal with such things, because apparently toner is hazardous waste.

Being bonded won't keep them safe, but it may make a difference to who pays the bills if they get cancer.

Comments

[callunav.livejournal.com]

I like to think that toner is safe if handled entirely correctly, and only hazardous when shaken by impatient administrative assistants who think that will help them get a few more pages out of it. (And they're right.)

What does bonded mean in this context, anyhow?

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Toner is hazardous waste in some jurisdictions. Something can be dangerous to dispose of ways that may come in contact with groundwater (or other parts of the atmosphere) even if it is not a health risk for the person touching it. Germany, Canada, and California, for instance, tend to have quite stringent rules about waste disposal. South Carolina tends to be very relaxed. I don't know about New York, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if recent versions (or interpretations) of the laws were more careful about preventing trace pollution than older versions. The copy machines are not designed for your particular time and place...they can sell the same machine in South Carolina, and they might even have sold that very machine in New York a couple of years ago.

People who have handling toner as a significant part of their job, for whom a noticable part of their job performance rating is "disposes of hazardous waste according to all local regulations and current best practices," are more likely to be careful about it than people who are doing copier maintenance as fast as they can between the significant parts of their jobs. Being bonded means an outside agent (bookie) has investigated the person's trustworthiness and thinks it is worth betting on. If toner gets released to the water supply, your company is likely to get fined by the EPA. Having trained, trustworthy, people changing the toner makes it less likely that someone will do something careless like wipe up a big toner spill with a sponge and rinse the sponge in the sink. If such a thing does happen, the company can show the EPA they tried to take reasonable precautions.