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Blood Cleanup
My blood cleanup work begins with disinfection of the general and specific areas of concern. I then begin removing the soiled materials. Then I disinfect again. In fact, during blood cleanup I find disinfecting from beginning to end helpful.
Once I remove blood soiled materials I clean thoroughly. I usually clean 3 times. Then I disinfect again. When damage to material appears imminent during cleaning, I stop cleaning and repair or seal the blood damaged material. I seal those areas in need of sealing, which usually includes concrete floors, wood floors, and walls.
If decomposition occured following death, I use an ozone machine or a chemical fogger to decontaminate large areas after blood cleanup. Blood cleanup usually involves distruction, altering, chemically treating, or pouring biohazardous waste down the sanitary sewer, the toilet or sink.
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County Homicide Cleanup
Homicide cleanup does differ from suicide cleanup and routine blood cleanup in some ways. When large caliber weapons used during a violent crime, biohazardous waste may cover a large area. Sometimes multiple homicides create great quantities of biohazardous waste. Biohazard cleanup follows as elsewhere, but here time becomes the greatest issue.
The large amount of biohazard waste cleanup, including blood cleanup, often leads to a complete and detailed cleaning of rooms soiled by homicides. Blood cleanup in these cases requires sealing entire rooms.
If a homicide's perpetrators remain on the loose, then security becomes the chief focus of attention. Rather than leave windows and doors open as might occur during blood cleanup, all openings remain closed and locked.
To read more about homicide visit homicide cleanup. If you need more information related to homicide cleanup and blood cleanup, visist crime scene cleanup.
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County Suicide Cleanup
Of course suicide cleanup follows the same regulations and rules of cleaning as other biohazardous incidents, homicide for one. What makes suicide cleanup necessarily different depends on the weapon used, the length of time the deceased remained down, ventilation, temperature, and other environmental conditions. County's summer heat sometimes adds to the challange because the heat cause decomposition to increase more rapidly.
Biohazard cleanup following many suicides takes place in small, cramped quarters. Blood coagulates in dense clusters as it dries out. Since it becomes sticky as it dries, it becomes difficult to remove once it dries in thick clusters.
Blood cleanup following decomposition, which starts a moment after the heart stops beating, may involve 1 to 6 stages of decomposition to work through. Each stage carries its own challanges, but none stop the professional blood cleanup technician from completely cleaning the blood soiled area during biohazard cleanup.
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OSHA Regulation for Bloodborne Pathogens 1910.1030(a)
In my Crime Scene Cleanup Web Sites business, Blood means blood from humans. It includes stuff related to blood and material from humans. This includes tubing, syringes (sharps), fabrics, furniture, carpet, carpet padding, and more.
When I talk or write about Bloodborne Pathogens on my Crime Scene Cleanup Web Sites web site, I mean tiny microorganisms that make people sick, and even die. Some of these include hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Trauma cleanup following blood loss means possible exposure to HIV and Hepatitis B and C.
Usually when I write contaminated by blood I mean that it's soiled by blood and other potentially infectious materials (OPIM).
Usually when we talk about Contaminated Laundry we mean blood soiled laundry and it may have OPIM in it. Using hot water, detergent, and a bit of bleach should help blood cleanup efforts.
According to OSHA, Contaminated Sharps includes stuff that can puncture skin. These include broken glass, needles, wires, and more.
Decontamination probably has the most importance when it comes to blood cleanup. It means to "remove, inactivate, or destroy bloodborne pathogens on a surface or item to the point where they are no longer capable of transmitting infectious particles and the surface or item is rendered safe for handling, use, or disposal." 1910.1030(b) During blood cleanup I use Engineering Controls means containers strong enough to protect people from the sharp and dangerous blood and OPIM inside.
Handwashing seems like a simple idea, but in blood cleanup work hand washing becomes very important. Having plenty of warm water and soap to wash our hands help protect us from bloodborne pathogens. I air dry my hands by letting nature take its course. I don't believe in using paper towels or even cotton towels when I don't need to. Air blowing machines for hand washing cause contamination from other places, too. So I don't use them either.
During blood cleanup I try to Sterilize anything contaminated by blood, including the blood cleanup material as I work. Of course I know that I'm not sterilizing during blood cleanup because to "sterilize" means I'm ridding the blood of everything. I cannot prove that blood cleanup decontamination sterilizes anything. It's nice to try, though. I also use
Universal Precautions, which means that anything touched by human blood or OPIM has bloodborne pathogens in it.
OSHA says not to bend or recap contaminated needles. But, if an employer can show no alternative exists for safe handling, then it's OK to bend blood contaminated sharps. In County tattoo parlors need to follow this advice, too. It's important to use some sort of tool for bending blood stained sharps. Never bend sharps by hand. And don't leave sharps hanging around. Send them to a medical waste biohazard cleanup company.
Besides color coding, containers should not leak or allow puncture.
Blood Contamination Containers
Containers for these blood contaminated sharps should be
Whatever OSHA means by the term “regulated waste?”, here's another take on it.
The Bloodborne Pathogens Standard uses the term, “regulated waste,”to refer to the following categories of waste:
liquid or semi-liquid blood or other potentially infectious materials (OPIM);
Materials soiled by blood or OPIM and release blood or OPIM as a liquid or semi-liquid when compressed;
Materials caked with dried blood or OPIM able to release these materials while handled;
contaminated sharps; and
pathological and microbiological wastes containing blood or OPIM.
It is the employer’s responsibility to determine the existence of regulated waste. This determination should not based on actual volume of blood, but rather on the potential to release blood, (e.g., when compacted in the waste container). If an OSHA inspector determines that sufficient evidence of regulated waste exists, either through observation, (e.g., a pool of liquid in the bottom of a container, dried blood flaking off during handling), or based on employee interviews, citations may be issued.
OSHA has furnished some further direction for the determination of regulated waste. OSHA stated that bandages which are not saturated to the point of releasing blood or OPIM if compressed would not be considered as regulated waste. Similarly, discarded feminine hygiene products do not normally meet the criteria for regulated waste as defined by the standard.
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A History Native Americans arrived in the area as long ago as 10,000 years. The Spanish arrived around 1769 with as many as 60 Spaniards led by Gaspar de Portola. Before long the Spanish speaking Europeans enculturated many of the California's indigenous people.
Catholicism became a new way of understanding the world for California's first immigrants. The Spanish priests taught their new friends a new language, new technology, and set the stage for dividing the land into an image not unlike that found in Europe. The abstracted thinking required for land ownership came more easily for the native people as they learned the abstract messages of Catholicism.
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