The Principles of Medical Device Decontamination

Records of the cleaning undertaken must be kept and these should be audited regularly and be reviewed by the department manager/ the cleaning/facilities manager and the Infection Prevention Control team to provide assurance on environmental cleanliness. Staff groups should be aware of their environmental cleaning schedules for their area, have been trained appropriately in approved cleaning methods and products, and be clear on their specific cleaning responsibilities.

Occupational Risk and hazards in Decontamination settings

In the UK, key legislation such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 1 , Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002 9 and the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at Work Regulations 2022 2 outline the legal responsibilities for employers and employees to protect themselves from potential risks in the work environment. Employers must ensure that appropriate PPE is provided to the employee for decontamination processes that minimise the risk of exposure to pathogens and chemicals in accordance with the hierarchy of controls 10 . This should be used to risk assess and manage potential physical, biological and chemical hazards and use of PPE:

• Physical hazards may include:

– Slips trips or falls from wet floors in washrooms – Electric shock in the use of electrical equipment alongside water outlets – Injury from manual handling and/or repetitive lifting and moving of equipment and instruments/trays – Skin damage/burns from accidental exposure to heat and steam from sterilisers • Skin puncture wounds from sharp instruments/equipment/bone fragments etc. • Chemical hazards include: – Skin irritation/burns and respiratory issues e.g. as occupational dermatitis and occupational asthma from exposure to chemical disinfectants, detergents and sterilant. There is also a risk of ingestion if products are not safely stored according to COSHH. – Allergy or even anaphylaxis to any of the chemicals in use, cleaning materials or some elements of PPE e.g. latex or nitrile

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