Biohazardous Cleaning
A biohazardous spill is an unintended release of a
potentially infectious material (including body fluids
such as blood, tissue or organs, and stock cultures).
Proper response to such incidents ensures
employees and student safety while reducing environmental contamination concerns.
Proper response includes assuring that spill materials
are available for use and verifying that all
personnel understand and can implement the requirements
of the spill response procedures indicated
b e l o w
Each area should have sufficient spill cleanup
materials available to respond to the largest anticipated
spill. In lab environments, this may be
addressed by one centrally located kit for a department
or group of labs. If a centralized kid is used,
a person may be designated to take a regular
inventory of the spill kit materials and order replace
m e n t s a s n e e d e d .
A biohazardous spill kit should include the following:
>Gloves, nitrile or latex (multiple pairs and sizes
recommended), >Safety goggles (face shields strongly
recommended), >Protective gown (i.e. lab coat, to
protect clothing), >Absorbent materials (e.g paper
towels), >Disposable show cover, Concentrated house
bleach (suitable disinfectant listed on EPA), >Spray
bottle for making 10% bleach solution or acceptable
disinfectant, Autoclavable bags, biohazard bags and/or
biohazard tags, >Twist ties, >Tongs or forceps for picking
up any sharps or broken glass (if applicable), >Plastic
scoops or cardboard for mechanical scooping, >Copy
o f b i o h a z a r d s p i l l r e s p o n d p r o c e d u r e s .
The following protocol is for low risk biohazard spills
of low risk materials such as microbiological cultures
of known origin and risk and for spills of blood or body
fluids. * Notify others working in the area of the hazard
present and put signage (e.g Biohazard Spill-Do ot Enter),
if your clothing or skin comes in contact with the spilled
materials, take appropriate action before proceeding with
cleanup, remove contaminated clothing articles and place
them in a designated biohazard bags for decontamination,
thoroughly wash an area of your skin that may have been
in contact wit the spills material with soap and water for
a b o u t 5 m i n u t e s .
* Wear glove, eye protector, and a protective lab coat
as minimum personal protective equipment (PPE).
Replace PPE that is damaged or becomes contamininated
before proceeding with cleanup. * If applicable,
use tongs or forceps to pick any contaminated sharp
items (syringes, broken glass etc) and place them in
the sharps container for disposal. * Put an absorbent
material, such as a paper towel over the spill. * Isolate
the spill material starting with the outer edges of the
towel and working into the center of the spill, soak the
area with 10% household bleach solution (prepared as
need for maximum effectiveness).
Allow the treated
towels to stand a minimum of 5 minutes, then collect
the treated towels using scoops or other mechanical
method and place them in the biohazard bag for
disposal. * Wipe down the entire spill, including
articles in close proximity that may not be visibly
contaminated, with clean towels and more bleach/
disinfectant solution, allow to air dry. * Place reusable
spill response items in the autoclave (biohazard) bag;
sterilize items prior to further processing for reuse,
if items can tolerate heat of the autoclave; if not, soak
in disinfectant for >10 minutes then clean before reuse.
Focus
* Place all disposable PPE and cleaning materials in
another biohazard bag to be treated and disposed of
autoclave the bag and enclose the treated waste in a
r e g u l a r t r a s h b a g p r i o r t o d i s p o s a l .
Sample must be transported in secondary leak proof
containers to minimize the potential for spills.
However, if a spill does occur in a common hallway or
publ i c space and cannot be immediatel y
decontaminated, cordon off the area, restrict access.
Biohazardous Cleaning
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