Annex C

(informative)

Decontamination, cleaning and disinfection following a spillage

C.1 General
This annex is intended to assist in developing specific protocols for the decontamination,
cleaning and disinfection of medical laboratory equipment or furnishings where accidents or
spills have resulted in biological, chemical or radioactive contamination. This annex can also
assist in developing suitable protocols for preparing and making equipment biologically safe
before service or repair. The following procedures are recommended for decontaminating spills
of blood, body fluids or other infectious materials (including culture materials) that occur in the
medical laboratory. Spills in other sites may require modification of these procedures.

C.2 Decontamination of spills

The factors which influence decontamination procedures are:

a) volume of spill;

b) which body fluid is spilled;

c) protein content;

d) infectious agent present;

e) concentration of infectious agent; and

f) nature of the surface (porous vs. water-resistant).

C.3 Personal protective equipment

Wear gloves, gown and facial protection. As aerosols inevitably exist, or are created during
spill clean-ups, respiratory protection is strongly advised. Heavyweight, puncture-resistant
utility gloves such as those used for house-cleaning and dishwashing are recommended.

If the spill contains broken glass or other objects, these should be removed and discarded
without contact with the hands. Rigid sheets of cardboard or disposable plastic scoops with a
pusher component used as a “pusher” and “receiver” may be used to handle such objects; or
tongs and forceps may be used. These should be discarded, along with the objects
themselves, into an appropriate puncture-resistant biohazard container.

If the spill is large and/or the worker's shoes could potentially be contaminated, water-
impermeable shoe covers should be worn.

With spills of culture media and materials, the site should be covered completely with an absorbent
material (see C.4). After a period of 10 min, the clean-up procedure as described below should be
initiated. If droplet formation is likely to have occurred (e.g. breakage within a centrifuge), the
equipment should remain closed for at least 0,5 h to allow blood/body fluid droplets to settle before
deco