Re: [Histonet] Bleaching in the histo lab
Maybe those scented bleach wiped would work. I love those things and they smell pretty good. Just a thought. I like the greencan fresh scent products/clorox-disinfecting-wipes/ KimD Sent from my iPhone On Feb 1, 2012, at 6:03 PM, "Lee & Peggy Wenk" wrote: > > - Need to clean off the corrosive bleach off the surfaces. That would also ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
Re: [Histonet] Bleaching in the histo lab
Several questions and comments, in no particular order: 1. What percent of bleach? - 10% is all that is needed for biohazards. If you are concerned about the smell, it might be too high a percent. 2. How good is your ventilation? How long do you continue to smell the chlorine? - If you continue to smell it hours later, or even the next day, have your safety officer and maintenance people check out the ventilation. 3. After wiping down with 10% bleach, are you wiping down the counter with water? - Need to clean off the corrosive bleach off the surfaces. That would also help with the smell. But takes more time. 3. What locations in the lab are you cleaning with dilute bleach? - The only areas that need to be cleaned with a disinfectant are those areas that have fresh or not completely fixed tissue, so around the grossing stations and the cryostat. Maybe where specimens are received into the lab. - The areas where you process tissue, embed, microtome, do staining, file slides and blocks should not need to be disinfected with bleach. The tissue has been fixed in formalin, and gone through alcohol, xylene (or substitute), and placed in 60 degree C (140 degree F) paraffin. That should kill almost all microorganisms. Therefore, should not need to clean up with anything beyond soap and water. If you have a very underprocessed tissue block, and it's oozing and weeping all over the counter and microtome, you may want to disinfect the area. (If it's a CJD case, you are going to need strong solutions than 10% bleach, but that's a whole new conversation.) - So talk with your safety officer, about how there are no biohazards in the other parts of the lab. They may be thinking more of the clinical pathology labs, with blood tubes and petri dishes, needing to be disinfected with bleach every day/shift. 4. Chemical incompatibility: Bleach is incompatible with ammonia (makes chlorine gas - deadly) Bleach is incompatible with acids Bleach is an oxidizer, and formaldehyde is supposed to be kept away from oxidizers. So, yes, I would be a little worried about chemical interaction. However, wiping down the area first with water, to remove other chemicals, before the bleach, would take care of this problems. 5. What does Epidemiology suggest for disinfectant? Our epidemiology is suggesting other cleaning solutions for disinfecting, rather than bleach, in many cases. - not as corrosive - less obnoxious fumes - more "green" - better disinfectant and faster, than bleach Peggy Wenk, HTL(ASCP)SLS Beaumont Health Systems Royal Oak, MI 48073 (Comments reflect my opinions, not that of my hospital) -Original Message- From: angela smith Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2012 8:57 AM To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu Subject: [Histonet] Bleaching in the histo lab I have been told by our safety officer that it is standard practice too clean the lab at the end of the day with diluted bleach. I have noticed a chemical reaction (smell) when cleaning the main area of the lab. I have concerns that this is not a good practice due to chemical reactions as we use so many chemicals in histology. What do other people do? Also I believe it is unsafe to use bleach with anything formalin related. Please let me know if you have a "standard" practice or mandated cleaning from your facility. Angela ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
RE: [Histonet] Bleaching in the histo lab
The short answer is that you need a detailed procedure for all immediate and regular cleaning of infectious materials and hazardous chemicals used in your lab. I believe the standard practice your safety officer is referring used in the clinical lab is a practice to clean all surfaces after each shift to remove/decontaminate all contaminated or potentially contaminated from the work surfaces of blood or other infectious material w/ 10% bleach solution (1:10 dilution of 5.25% solution of sodium hypochlorite) or other lab cleaners approved for biohazard approved contamination. The waste generated by this process should be disposed of in the non-regulated medical waste. Typically in the Histology room there should not be blood or other infectious materials (you are working w/ fixed and processed tissue samples), unless you have your frozen section and/or gross dissection processes connected to and part of the main Histology room. I suggest you use the bleach solution whenever there is known or suspicion of contamination of a potentially infectious material. For areas/surfaces and equipment where lab chemicals are used, always remove the spilled chemical according to MSDS recommendations and then clean the area w/ a damp cloth with water and a detergent and them wipe clean and dry. If or when a hazardous chemical is spilled (i.e. Xylene, Formalin or chemicals associated w/ IHC or Special staining), it should be treated as a hazardous chemical spill and there area should be cleaned according to your hazardous chemical spill protocol. Small spills (up to 300 cc) - neutralize and/or adsorption; medium spill (300 cc to 5 liters) - adsorption spill kit; Large spill (>5 liters) - outside help. disposal will be in regulated hazardous waste. The main point here, instances of contamination of infectious materials or any size spill of hazardous chemicals should be treated seriously and properly. Your cleaning and disposal procedure must be very detailed to protect the employees and meet lab, municipality, state and regulatory requirements. I am very passionate about properly handling chemicals and protecting everyone that must have contact w/ these necessary solutions/products. I suggest you and your safety officer have a sit down and discuss how to document and address these issues, a drive-by by a safety officer is really not adequate. William DeSalvo, B.S., HTL(ASCP) > Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2012 05:57:27 -0800 > From: we3smi...@yahoo.com > To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu > Subject: [Histonet] Bleaching in the histo lab > > I have been told by our safety officer that it is standard practice too clean > the lab at the end of the day with diluted bleach. I have noticed a chemical > reaction (smell) when cleaning the main area of the lab. I have concerns that > this is not a good practice due to chemical reactions as we use so many > chemicals in histology. What do other people do? Also I believe it is unsafe > to use bleach with anything formalin related. > Please let me know if you have a "standard" practice or mandated cleaning > from your facility. > Angela > ___ > Histonet mailing list > Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu > http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
[Histonet] Bleaching in the histo lab
I have been told by our safety officer that it is standard practice too clean the lab at the end of the day with diluted bleach. I have noticed a chemical reaction (smell) when cleaning the main area of the lab. I have concerns that this is not a good practice due to chemical reactions as we use so many chemicals in histology. What do other people do? Also I believe it is unsafe to use bleach with anything formalin related. Please let me know if you have a "standard" practice or mandated cleaning from your facility. Angela ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
