DECONTAMINATION

DECONTAMINATION

Decontamination is a process or treatment that

renders equipment, environmental surfaces, or
biohazarardous waste safe to handle.
 LEVEL OF DECONTAMINATION

The effectiveness of decontamination ranges from

high-level sterilization to simple cleaning with soap
and water. Levels of decontamination include:

Sterilization
Disinfection
Cleaning
 LEVEL OF DECONTAMINATION

Sterilization (high-level decontamination) uses a

physical or chemical procedure to destroy all
microbial life, including highly resistant bacterial
endospores.

Disinfection (intermediate-level decontamination)

uses a liquid chemical to eliminate virtually all
pathogenic microorganisms, with the exception of
bacterial spores, on work surfaces and equipment.
 LEVEL OF DECONTAMINATION

Cleaning (low-level decontamination) uses water,

detergent, and some mechanical action such as
scrubbing with a gloved hand or brush. Cleaning is
often a required step before sterilization or
disinfection, because it removes all material such as
soil or organic material and reduces the number of
microorganisms on an object.
DECONTAMINATION OF BIOLOGICAL
SAFETY CABINETS (BSC)
Decontamination of the work surfaces in BSCs and
other containment equipment is required:
after a particular work project using infectious
materials is completed
before any maintenance work is undertaken on a
cabinet
prior to certification or performance tests
before HEPA filter replacement
prior to relocation of the unit to another laboratory
after a major spill of biohazardous agent.
 HOW TO VALIDATE?

Most people use swabs, agar stamps, culture to

determine the presence of microbial growth.
The procedures are time consuming and/or costly.
Validating is only done when one is not sure that the
product used covers the specific agents.
 SPILL MANAGEMENT

Chemical
Select disinfectant effective against target organism

Concentration
Prepare the referenced solution

Contact time
Disinfectants dont work instantaneously
EPA uses a 10 minute contact time for testing
SPILL CLEAN-UP KIT

disinfectant
paper towels
gloves
face protection
biohazard bags
forceps
dust pan & brush
Maintain a spill kit for cleaning
biological spills.

Keep the spill kit outside the lab

(to prevent contamination of
supplies)
 Gloves

Disinfectant

Autoclavable
bag
Incineration
bag
IF THIS HAPPEN

Specimen
 HOW TO CLEAN UP THE SPILL?

1. Place a sign that told DO NOT ENTER,

BIOLOGICAL SPILL)

2. Move away from the spill area

3. Leave the aerosol that arose from the spill settle

down for at least 10 minutes

4. Wear another additional PPE before start

cleaning(shoes cover, mask)
4. Cover spill area with paper towel
 HOW TO CLEAN UP THE SPILL?

6. Spray/flood disinfectant and allow for 30 minutes

contact time

7.Pick any object (sharp/not) using forceps or dust

pan & brush

8. Clean the spill area and put in autoclavable

bag/incineration bag
 HOW TO CLEAN UP THE SPILL?

9. Wear off your gloves & other PPE

10. Wash your hand thoroughly

11. Notify Biosafety Officer

 absorb spill and paper
towels and place in
biohazard bag

Autoclave the bag

prior disposal
Sharps placed in sharps container
 FOLLOW UP

Report
Spill kit contents e.g expiry date of disinfectant
Monitoring
Training and retraining