The importance of cleaning employees & staff knowing about bloodborne pathogens

•  Awareness - all members of a janitorial cleaning crew (including temporary, part-time, and independent contractors) need to be aware that they may come in contact with bio-hazardous materials.  The materials may be blood, or have blood contained within such as mucous, vomit, feces, saliva, etc.  In addition, the bio-hazardous materials could be on bedding materials, clothing, flooring, or equipment.  The all members of the cleaning staff must be properly trained to be aware of the best practices for working around potentially bio-hazardous materials.
• Risk/Hazard - Once the staff has been trained to recognize/aware of bio-hazardous material, the next step is how to handle the suspect material.  First, before handling bodily fluids directly, or materials soaked/stained with bodily fluids, or bodily fluids are spotted on hard surfaces (flooring, walls, equipment, etc.), assume the material(s) are contaminated and need to be handled with caution.  The risk/hazard of not handling infectious materials properly is contracting serious diseases such as, Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV), which causes Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), Hepatitis B, or Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).
• Response - Once a staff member has identified a potential risk/hazard they must take appropriate action such as, using their personal protective equipment (PPE).  At a minimum this includes wearing disposable gloves, goggles (eyewear protection), additional items may be needed depending on the circumstance (gown, disposable protective footwear, tongs to pick-up SHARPS.
• Emergency - If during the cleaning process the staff member’s skin has been punctured, has ingested, or inhaled potentially infected materials, immediately start firs-aide treatment: encourage the wound to bleed, if possible hold the area under running water, wash the would using running water and plenty of soap, do not scrub while washing, do not suck the wound, dry and cover area with a sterile band-aide, immediately contact your supervisor, then seek medical advice.