safety equipment

Enhancing Cleaning Safety: Best Practices for a Safer Workplace

Gaétan Lanthier
cleaning safety - showcasing a pristine, well-lit room with cleaning equipment neatly arranged to one side. The room should evoke a sense of cleanliness and order.

Workplace safety is paramount, especially in sectors where the risk of injury is high. According to ASSTSAS, in the province of Quebec, falls and slips contribute to a staggering 18% of workers’ compensation costs. Alarmingly, this ranks as the third leading cause of workplace accidents in the health and social services sector, encompassing a wide range of job roles.

Understanding the Causes of Workplace Accidents

Before delving into solutions, it’s crucial to understand the root causes of these accidents. While falls and slips are significant contributors, several other factors play a role in workplace-related mishaps:

  1. Fall and Slide Accidents: These can be attributed to wet floors, uneven surfaces, or obstacles in pathways.
  2. Muscle Strains: Often a result of improper lifting techniques or excessive flexion, leading to back and muscle injuries.
  3. Chemical Exposures: Handling chemicals without proper precautions can result in eye and skin lesions.
  4. Respiratory Issues: Prolonged exposure to certain chemicals and equipment can adversely affect the respiratory system.
  5. Electrical and Biological Hazards: Accidental contact with live wires or exposure to biological hazards can have severe consequences.

Seven Proactive Measures to Enhance Cleaning Safety

To mitigate these risks, especially in cleaning tasks, consider the following seven steps:

  1. Regularly Review Work Methods: Periodically assess and update working methods and procedures to ensure they align with the best safety practices.
  2. Risk Assessment: Proactively identify and evaluate situations that pose risks. This includes lifting heavy loads, repetitive tasks, exposure to harmful chemicals, assessing air quality, and overall work organization.
  3. Use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Recognize tasks that necessitate PPE. This can range from gloves and goggles to masks and protective sleeves.
  4. Opt for Non-slip Footwear: Especially crucial when working with floor finishes. Non-slip shoes can significantly reduce the risk of falls.
  5. Use Wet Floor Signs: Always use “wet floor” safety panels when cleaning floors. Ensure they are removed once the floor is dry to avoid confusion.
  6. Regular Equipment Inspection: Pay special attention to the electrical wiring of cleaning equipment. Avoid disconnecting devices by pulling on the wire.
  7. Handle Biological Hazards with Care: Treat any body fluid or blood as a potential biological hazard. Ensure you’re adequately trained before attempting any cleanup.

By integrating these steps into your cleaning procedures, you can create a safer environment for everyone involved. Remember, prevention is always better than cure.

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How to properly clean reusable protective equipment

Gaétan Lanthier
Clean medical inhaler
Photo by Mockup Graphics on Unsplash

When we talk about disinfection, we talk about the prevention and control of infection in the environment. Therefore, equipment used for respiratory therapy is considered semi-critical. The equipment must then be cleaned and disinfected properly between patients. The WHO gives us the proper maintenance of respiratory equipment in procedures to follow. The procedures are checklists in steps of a cycle. Let’s explore all the summarized steps up to the cycle finish. And yes, the cleaning step is before the disinfection step!

Checklists for care, cleaning, disinfection and sterilization of respiratory devices

1. Perform hand hygiene

The title and image say it all

2. Don appropriate personal protective equipment

The personal protective equipment to be worn during the disinfectant preparation includes surgical mask/respirator, googles/face shield, long-sleeved fluid resistant gown/gown plus apron, rubber gloves and boots or closed work shoes.

3. Wash with detergent and rinse with clean water

The external device surfaces must be wiped with a damp cloth or disposable wipe that is soaked in detergent and clean water. Then, remaining detergent residue must be wiped off with a dry lint-free cloth. A mechanical action (scrubbing/brushing) should be used to remove visible dirt deposits and calcifications.

4. Disinfect

4a. Physical disinfection – Heat for heat resistant equipement (steam/hot-water)

A high-level of physical disinfection can be achieved with steam (e.g. autoclaving at lower temperature) or hot-water at least 121°C. This is an inexpensive and effective method for sterilization or high-level disinfection.

4b. Chemical disinfection for plastic plus other parts that can be damaged by heat

b) If the disinfection needs to be with chemicals solutions, it should be performed in a well-ventilated area and away from patients. Use a disposable wipe or a fresh cloth that is soaked in a compatible disinfectant. Hydrogen peroxide 0.5% or ethanol 70-90%. Wipe from top to bottom and avoid contact with electrical connectors.

5. Dry equipment / Rinse equipment

a) Physical equipment often has a drying feature within the machine (e.g. washer, pasteurizer or autoclave). Following pasteurization, the wet equipment is typically dried in a hot-air drying cabinet or air-dried. Make sure to carefully inspect and ensure that no water is left in the equipment.

b) If a chemical solution was used for disinfection, rinse the equipment with sterile or clean water (i.e. water boiled for 5 mins and cooled down). It is preferred to use sterile water for rinsing off residual liquid chemical disinfectant from the respiratory device.

6. Store equipment in closed packages

Last step. Title says it all.

This was a summary of the Care, cleaning and disinfection of respiratory equipment in sterile services department’s article by World Health Organization.

This article is a free translation of WHO’s article.

Source:
World Health Organization
– https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/care-cleaning-and-disinfection-of-respiratory-equipment-in-sterile-services-department
– https://www.who.int/images/default-source/health-topics/coronavirus/care-cleaning-disinfection-of-respiratory-equipment.tmb-479v.png?sfvrsn=14530f0b_1

The proper maintenance of respiratory equipment

Rémi Siv
Clean medical inhaler
Photo by Mockup Graphics on Unsplash

When we talk about disinfection, we talk about the prevention and control of infection in the environment. Therefore, equipment used for respiratory therapy is considered semi-critical. The equipment must then be cleaned and disinfected properly between patients. The WHO gives us the proper maintenance of respiratory equipment in procedures to follow. The procedures are checklists in steps of a cycle. Let’s explore all the summarized steps up to the cycle finish. And yes, the cleaning step is before the disinfection step!

Checklists for care, cleaning, disinfection and sterilization of respiratory devices

1. Perform hand hygiene

The title and image say it all

2. Don appropriate personal protective equipment

The personal protective equipment to be worn during the disinfectant preparation includes surgical mask/respirator, googles/face shield, long-sleeved fluid resistant gown/gown plus apron, rubber gloves and boots or closed work shoes.

3. Wash with detergent and rinse with clean water

The external device surfaces must be wiped with a damp cloth or disposable wipe that is soaked in detergent and clean water. Then, remaining detergent residue must be wiped off with a dry lint-free cloth. A mechanical action (scrubbing/brushing) should be used to remove visible dirt deposits and calcifications.

4. Disinfect

4a. Physical disinfection – Heat for heat resistant equipement (steam/hot-water)

A high-level of physical disinfection can be achieved with steam (e.g. autoclaving at lower temperature) or hot-water at least 121°C. This is an inexpensive and effective method for sterilization or high-level disinfection.

4b. Chemical disinfection for plastic plus other parts that can be damaged by heat

b) If the disinfection needs to be with chemicals solutions, it should be performed in a well-ventilated area and away from patients. Use a disposable wipe or a fresh cloth that is soaked in a compatible disinfectant. Hydrogen peroxide 0.5% or ethanol 70-90%. Wipe from top to bottom and avoid contact with electrical connectors.

5. Dry equipment / Rinse equipment

a) Physical equipment often has a drying feature within the machine (e.g. washer, pasteurizer or autoclave). Following pasteurization, the wet equipment is typically dried in a hot-air drying cabinet or air-dried. Make sure to carefully inspect and ensure that no water is left in the equipment.

b) If a chemical solution was used for disinfection, rinse the equipment with sterile or clean water (i.e. water boiled for 5 mins and cooled down). It is preferred to use sterile water for rinsing off residual liquid chemical disinfectant from the respiratory device.

6. Store equipment in closed packages

Last step. Title says it all.

This was a summary of the Care, cleaning and disinfection of respiratory equipment in sterile services department’s article by World Health Organization.

This article is a free translation of WHO’s article.

Source:
World Health Organization
– https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/care-cleaning-and-disinfection-of-respiratory-equipment-in-sterile-services-department
– https://www.who.int/images/default-source/health-topics/coronavirus/care-cleaning-disinfection-of-respiratory-equipment.tmb-479v.png?sfvrsn=14530f0b_1