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Narrative - Simple Blood Cleanup - Significant Blood Cleanup - Cleaning and Cutting - Blood and Medical Waste Issues
I prefer defining terms at the outset, so I'll follow this approach for blood cleanup wherever it may occur.
Before the 1970s few people gave thought to blood's infectious contents. Everyone figured blood carried oxygen, CO2, waste materials, and more. We usually thought of blood as "dirty," and little else.
Considerations for infectious materials soiled by blood hardly raised an eyebrow. "Just rinse it out" most were advised, and usually we did so without a question. This all changed when HIV became prominent, especially after President Reagan's last term.
By biohazardous wastes I mean anything that can be caused to release blood by touching, squeezing, compressing, or otherwise pressurized from its exterior. What I do not include in biohazardous waste's mean will be found below by tapping the following word: Biohazard)
Read the following for what I define as biohazards:
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Human blood liquid waste;
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Blood products;
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Stuff saturated and/or dripping human blood; or
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Stuff soaked by human blood, dried out, and now caked in mounds or small "scabs."
Simple Blood Cleanup
Simple blood cleanup includes wiping blood from a nonporous surface soiled by a tiny cut. As a recurring fact of life for most people, simple blood cleanup now requires universal precautions. Put another way, "all blood from others carries bloodborne pathogens", we must tell ourselves.
Accordingly, we should wear protective gloves when cleaning blood from others.
Significant Blood Cleanup
Significant blood cleanup may follow a violent homicide, violent suicide, traumatic impact, or an unattended death. Significant blood cleanup requires the same universal precautions, but protecting the cleaner from accidental exposure requires greater use of protective coverings. Gloves, eye protection, mouth protection and more.
Whether simple or significant, blood cleanup places the cleaner at risk. The risks encountered during blood cleanup include bloodborne pathogen exposure.
Bloodborne pathogens include Hepatitis B and HIV. Other bloodborne pathogens like syphilis exist. Because of the knowns and unknowns in bloodborne pathogen's existence during blood cleanup. Universal precautions exist to protect the public as well as those working in blood exposure occupations.
Questions related to the infectious nature of blood sometimes cloud the public's understanding of blood's infectiousness, and this does not one any good. Keeping our terms and definitions clear and understandable must direct communication of relevant information.
For example, the term "medical waste" finds different definitions depending upon the context of its use. Some states include anything related to hospital waste as "medical waste." Other's clarify what they mean by "medical waste."
On this page I distinguish between infectious medical waste, non-infectious medical waste, biohazardous waste, biowaste, and solid waste.
Definition of Medical/Infectious Waste
The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) definition of medical waste leaves little room for misunderstanding. We need to keep "infectious" at the back of our minds when reading EPA.
Biohazardous easily fits into the "medical waste" phrase as used here. Any materials generated in medical buildings like "hospitals, clinics, dental practices, physician's offices, blood banks and veteran hospitals fall under the medical waste category. Of course research buildings and laboratories fall under the same designation.
- Cultures and stocks of infectious agents and associated biologicals.
- Human pathological waste.
- Sharps that have been used in animal or human patient care or treatment or in medical, research, or industrial laboratories, including hypodermic needles, syringes (with or without the attached needle), Pasteur pipettes, scalpel blades, blood vials, needles with attached tubing, and culture dishes (regardless of presence of infectious agents). Also included are other types of broken or unbroken glassware that were in contact with infectious agents, such as used slides and cover slips.
- Animal waste including contaminated animal carcasses, body parts, and bedding of animals that were known to have been exposed to infectious agents during research (including research in veterinary hospitals), production of biologicals or testing of pharmaceuticals.
- Isolation wastes including biological waste and discarded materials contaminated with blood, excretions, exudates, or secretions from humans who are isolated to protect others from certain highly communicable diseases, or isolated animals known to be infected with highly communicable diseases.
- Unused sharps including the following unused, discarded sharps: hypodermic needles, suture needles, syringes, and scalpel blades.
The definition of medical/infectious waste does not include hazardous waste; household waste; ash from incineration of medical/infectious waste, once the incineration process has been completed; human corpses, remains, and anatomical parts that are intended for interment or cremation; and domestic sewage materials.
Not Biohazards
Eddie Evans, Crime Scene Cleanup
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Crime scene cleanup company tasks include reduction of blood soiled materials. Reduction occurs in two major approaches:
Cleaning and Cutting
Cleaning includes traditional methods of cleaning. Pre-soaking, like pre-treating, softens, soaks, lifts, erodes, and dislodges blood and OPIM. Scrubbing, scraping, and wiping surfaces helps to remove blood. Rinsing often concludes blood removal, but not always.
In the interests disinfecting, disinfectants applied to surfaces, even fabrics, completes cleaning. Instances requiring additional assurance include sealing with Zennsser and/or Kilz, as well as shellacs.
Overall, most blood cleanup tasks call for little more than cleaning and cutting. Rarely does demolition come into the picture.
Usually when demolition becomes necessary during bloold cleanup, dismemberment and dissecting follows Stuff like mattresses, carpets, wood floors, vinyl floor covering, and other objects are dimolished.
In the worst cases parts of walls need to be removed. Replacing walls and floors does not require a lot of skill. Although, some states require a contractor's license anytime structural changes are made to a residence or other buildiing. At least, these rules apply to anyone in the blood cleanup business.
Whether or not cutting a piece of floor or piece of wall constitutes "structural modification," becomes an issues for different state construction licensing boards.
What becomes of blood soiled and OPIM soiled materials takes place with consideration.
Some blood soaked materials may alter when treated with bleach and other disinfectents. Some materials may be safely handled once cleaned and sealed with Kilz, Zinnsseer, or shellac. Still others may be safely handled once sealed without cleaning. In the last instance, soakinig some fabrics and other materials in bleach renders them less-than-infectious.
A conscientious, well-trained blood cleanup technican takes time and effort to render potentially biohazardous materials safe for transport on public highways. With little cost, and little time, it takes little effort to render materials safe, if not altered, for transport on public highways.
Oftentimes treatment for travel renders once blood soiled materials safe. Once sealed if not removed by pre-treatment methods there's little to call "biohazardous" if anything.
Unethical companies take pride in how much "biohazardous waste" they remove. Of course, what they do not say is what they mean by "biohazardous" and did they reduce blood soiled materials.
Most probably unethical companies throw entire garments, sheets, and mattresses into boxes for jacking up their biohazard waste fees.
Blood and Medical Waste Issues
In the 1960s medical waste followed the rest of our country into disposable products. Disposable bottles, disposable diapers, and disposable medical tools and supplies became available. Linen, syringes, and bandages provided luxuries never imagined. In the field of blood cleanup syringes created a looming biohazard.
When the 1980s arrived with bloodborne pathogen issues on the medical agenda, medical waste definitions included infectious properties. Medical waste was "infectious waste."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses four categories of infective wastes:
- laboratory cultures and stocks,
- pathology wastes,
- blood,
- sharps - needles.
eedles and syringes cause the greatest concern when it comes to medical waste and blood cleanup. Because accidental injections increases the liklilhood of bloodborne pathogens, sharps increased awareness and regulatory inactments.
Medical waste treatments followed to render infectious materials noninfectious prior to disposal in a landfill or other solid-waste site. Treatments like incineration, sterilization, chemical disinfection, and microwave became common.
In the field, the blood cleanup technican must, obviously, pre-treat potentially infectious waste with chemicals and/or sealents before movement.
I will add more to this information soon.
Eddie Evans
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