While suitable gloves provide the wearer with a high degree of protection, they do not give complete protection and hands must be washed after gloves are removed. Gloves can develop holes, some that may be too small for the wearer to notice. Liquid contamination will pass through these holes by capillary action and spread out on the wearer’s skin. Even with an excellent glove removal technique, as described in Monograph: personal protective equipment, hands could become contaminated during the procedure. Therefore, hand hygiene must be performed after glove removal. If gloves have not been worn, handwashing after laboratory work or handling animals is essential. If hands are contaminated with biological agents in the laboratory, the contamination will be on the surface of the skin. As such, it can be easily removed by handwashing or readily inactivated with antimicrobial hand rubs.
Handwashing
A short (about 20 seconds) but thorough hand wash with soap and running water will efficiently remove laboratory-acquired contamination. There is no advantage to using antimicrobial soaps as the purpose of handwashing is to remove biological agents rather than inactivate or destroy them. Hands should be washed in running water, so a tap/faucet that mixes hot and cold water to a comfortable temperature should be used. A hands-free method (infrared-operated switch, or foot, knee or elbow operated tap/faucet) is an advantage. If taps/faucets need to be turned on and off by hand, a clean paper towel should be used to turn them off. Hands should be dried with single-use paper towels and the towels should properly discarded after use in a designated waste bin.
Alcohol hand rub
Alcohols (ethanol, propanol or isopropanol) at concentrations between 60% and 95% applied to the hands and rubbed to dryness can be effective in removing microbial contamination acquired during laboratory work. The correct technique for using alcohol hand rubs can be found at the WHO website. Alcohols are poor at penetrating proteins or protein-containing matter, so they should only be used on visibly clean hands. Alcohols have no activity against spores and poor activity against non-enveloped viruses; if hand contamination with these biological agents is likely, hand washing should be used instead of alcohol hand rubs.
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Refrences
Laboratory biosafety manual, 4th edition:
Please Check out file at the following link
Recommended standards and practices for infectious waste management
Waste management- Waste storage
Waste management- Classification
