For anyone in the healthcare industry, blood is often a fact of the job. It’s also one of the biggest hazards healthcare workers face on a regular basis, since so much can be transmitted through blood. Even if you’re not a healthcare worker, the last thing you want is someone getting sick from a blood spill. Which means that cleanup is
paramount in situations like this. Here, we’re taking a look at blood spills, OSHA guidance, and walking you through what to do in the event of a blood spill. Cleaning up a blood spill involves more than just mopping the area. You have to ensure that cleaners aren’t exposed to bloodborne pathogens, disinfect and decontaminate the area, and safely dispose of
the blood and cleaning materials. To do this, you’ll need some equipment: Think of disposable gloves and gowns as your PPE in this case. All cleaners should wash their hands and put on disposable cleaning gear before attending the spill. There are five basic
steps to cleaning up blood spills: Blood spills OSHA guidelines essentially amount to the same thing: process safety. If you apply good process safety habits, you can prevent many incidents
from occurring. And if those incidents do occur, you need strong process safety to ensure no one gets hurt or sick. If you need more tips to guide your cleanup crew, make sure to check out our blog for more tips, like this post on process safety to mitigate spills.Equipment to Clean Up Blood Spills
The Five Steps to Cleaning Up Blood Spills
Dealing with Blood Spills and Other Workplace Incidents
EHS Insight Resources
Since 2009, the team at EHS Insight have been on a mission to make the world a better place. Join us by subscribing to our Blog and receive updates on what’s new in the world of EHS, our software and other related topics.
Featured Posts
Explore more workplace safety resources from the EHS Insight Blog.
View All Posts
NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
WHO Guidelines on Drawing Blood: Best Practices in Phlebotomy. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2010.
Annex HBlood spillage
Blood spillage may occur because a laboratory sample breaks in the phlebotomy area or during transportation, or because there is excessive bleeding during the procedure. In this situation, clean up the spillage and record the incident, using the following procedure.
Wear a pair of non-sterile gloves.
Use tongs or a pan and brush to sweep up as much of the broken glass (or container) as possible. Do not pick up pieces with your hands.
Discard the broken glass in a sharps container. If this is not possible due to the size of the broken glass, wrap the glass or container in several layers of paper and discard it carefully in a separate container. Do not place it in the regular waste container.
Use disposable paper towels to absorb as much of the body fluids as possible.
Wipe the area with water and detergent until it is visibly clean.
Saturate the area again with sodium hypochlorite 0.5% (10 000 ppm available chlorine). This is a 1:10 dilution of 5.25% sodium hypochlorite bleach, which should be prepared daily.
Rinse off the tongs, brush and pan, under running water and place to dry.
Remove gloves and discard them.
Wash hands carefully with soap and water, and dry thoroughly with single-use towels.
Record the incident in the incident book if a specimen was lost, or persons were exposed to blood and body fluids.
Copyright © 2010, World Health Organization.
All rights reserved. Publications of the World Health Organization can be obtained from WHO Press, World Health Organization, 20 Avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland (tel.: +41 22 791 3264; fax: +41 22 791 4857; e-mail: tni.ohw@sredrokoob). Requests for permission to reproduce or translate WHO publications – whether for sale or for noncommercial distribution – should be addressed to WHO Press, at the above address (fax: +41 22 791 4806; e-mail: tni.ohw@snoissimrep).
Bookshelf ID: NBK138660